


Mascot Madness

by crouchinggoblin



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: (weed.), Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Football, Quarterback, Secret Crush, Secret Identity, Smoking, like Cinderella but sweaty, mascot, useless lesbian wears cat suit to impress sport lesbian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:47:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 63,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crouchinggoblin/pseuds/crouchinggoblin
Summary: Adora is the quarterback of the varsity football team at Brightmoon High, and her flirty banter and exaggerated rapport with the school's mascot are major highlights for the student body. When the banter crosses from playful and anonymous to something more, though, this complicates things for Adora. Sure, she has this fake-romantic bit she does with the Wildcat (mostly) for show, but that gets complicated when feelings start developing for someone who isn't a mysterious dancer in a cat costume.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 222
Kudos: 689





	1. Mascot Madness

"Hey, Adora!" said a teasing voice from behind the open locker Adora was currently standing at. Recognizing the voice, she groaned internally, but put on her best fake smile and slowly closed her locker to be greeted by the mismatched eyes of the school's most annoying person. Well at least the most annoying person in the school to Adora specifically.

"Good morning, Catra," the blonde greeted politely, already knowing where this conversation was going, but resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Catra had been making Adora's life harder since they got put in the same kindergarten class. They had been in every class together since, and even when they got old enough for multiple classes in a day, Catra was always in at least one of them.

"So, how's Senior year treating you so far?" Catra smirked while blatantly doing a once over of Adora, causing the blonde's cheeks to heat up and patience to dwindle. The tan skinned girl leaned against the locker with a raised eyebrow as she awaited Adora's reply.

"Well you insist on sitting behind me in the two classes we share, I think you should be able to answer that," Adora scoffed back, already feeling herself get worked up as she grit her teeth in a futile effort to remain calm. Unfortunately Catra immediately noticed; she always noticed the smallest things about Adora and it drove the blonde absolutely crazy.

"I do it for your own good Adora, I like to provide you with some motivation to keep your grades up," Catra teased, but she wasn't completely lying. Honestly, Adora always did better in classes with Catra because she never wanted to be out done by her rival and she would take that to her grave.

"Maybe I would be more motivated if you stopped throwing shit at the back of my head during class, but we both know that's not gonna happen," Adora grumbled and turned away from Catra, ponytail swishing behind her. She didn't bother looking over her shoulder because she knew Catra was going to follow right behind her in perfect stride.

"Not true!" Catra insisted, smoothly sliding in front of Adora, causing the blonde to come to an abrupt halt. "Once I land something perfectly on your high ass hair poof then I'll stop. I just really think an eraser could lay in there like a perfect little egg in a perfect little nest." Catra smiled and stood on her tip toes, poking the stupid piece of hair Adora had pulled into a ridiculous poof on top of her head.

Adora tried to reply, but Catra remained on her tip toes, eyes meeting Adora's. Kaleidoscopes met baby blue and Adora felt frozen in place. This effect that Catra had over her always confused Adora to no end, the snarky girl could always render her speechless. She continued to stare at the brunette, unconsciously looking at her lips and the canine that jutted out, ghosting the edge of soft lips.

At that thought Adora immediately flushed and quickly shook her head, taking a step back from Catra. This always happened, and unfortunately it felt like Catra was getting to her more and more lately. 

"Whatever Catra, I need to go. So can I help you with anything in particular or can your obsession with me take a hiatus until second period?" Adora huffed, eyes locked on the ground with intensity, trying to focus on getting her cheeks to lose their red color, but thanks to her pale skin that wouldn't happen anytime soon.

"Just wanted to say good luck at the game tonight, quarterback," Catra purred, tapping Adora's nose, "Lemme know if you need a good luck kiss before 'kay? Bye Adora." She sang, and with a lazy wave strutted down the hall.

Adora stood there gaping for a long moment before realizing how ridiculous she looked and with a shake of her head continued walking. Catra had been flirting with Adora nonstop since she came out Freshman year, a glaring reminder that Adora could not get a date. It also didn't help that Catra always emphasized the blonde's single status. Catra never talked about her sexuality, but also throughout their entire lives, Adora noticed that her rival didn't date anyone or even attempt to. She tried to figure it out for a while, but Catra never paid much attention to anyone else. The thought crossed Adora's mind before that Catra had a crush on her, but the girl was always so rude that Adora came to the conclusion it was just another part of her personal vendetta against Adora.

Continuing down the hall, she spotted a familiar head of pink hair at the end, and immediately picked up her step to meet the shorter girl.

"Hey," Adora greeted her weakly, going in for a hug which Glimmer quickly returned but just as quickly let go.

"So what was that back there?" she asked, eyebrows wriggling in curiosity.

"What was what?" Adora frowned.

"Oh don't gimme that blondie, I saw Catra giving you shit and I could feel your anger from down the hall," Glimmer teased. The blonde girl groaned, covering her face.

"She sucks, that's all I can say. It's like she has dedicated her life to irritating me, she knows every button to press. Honestly it's at the point where when I see her stupid face or her stupid hair when it's pulled back in that stupid ponytail that looks so good and it's just all stupid!" Adora groaned. "It feels like I'm in some kind of hell, like she was always so annoying when we were kids but now it's like she gets some sick pleasure out of tormenting my gay ass." Adora finished her rant while Glimmer began to giggle next to her.

"Glimmer! It's not funny!" she huffed, hitting her shoulder, but the girl didn't cease her laughter.

"I'm sorry, Adora, it's just ridiculous. Catra loves getting a rise out of you, and you give it to her, and with how heated you get it is a little funny." Glimmer giggled once more and Adora rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, I just wanna focus on the game and Catra is _way_ too distracting."

"I wonder what could _possibly_ be distracting about her?" Glimmer wondered dramatically and Adora shot her a glare to which she shot her hands up in defense.

"Just speaking the truth," the bright haired girl replied with a sweet smile and Adora sighed fondly.

"C'mon, smartass, we got class," she told her smaller friend, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and the pair headed off to first period together.

Besides the first twenty minutes of her day, things remained uneventful for Adora, until lunch. She and Glimmer headed to the lunchroom, Adora already extremely excited to partake in her sandwich. Ten minutes were spent crafting a perfect sandwich that morning before school and Adora felt herself start to salivate. Glimmer was rambling about her advanced biology class and Adora nodded along as best she could. She took biology sophomore year and retained none of the information, so all she could was listen to the different language Glimmer spoke.

Once they sat down at their usual table, surrounded by a mix of people they were sort of friends with, Adora dug into her sandwich instantly. The people at their table always seemed to change, Adora and Glimmer knew a lot of people, and on some occasions hung out with them, but at the end of the day they had each other and that's all they really needed, the other people were more so background noise. In the middle of Glimmer arguing with Sea Hawk over God knows what and Adora finishing her amazing sandwich, the lights in the cafeteria turned off. Instead of screaming or panicking, the cafeteria instantly grew abuzz with anticipation. In hindsight, they realized they should have seen it coming, the cheerleaders weren't present and the first football game of the year, which was also a home game, happened to be tomorrow as well as the first pep rally.

Adora racked her brain trying to remember if football players were expected to do anything during this sure to be spectacle, but only recalled the directions to wear her jersey at school the day of the game.

Everyone instantly began looking around the cafeteria, wondering where the cheer squad would appear from. Suddenly, the double doors burst open, cheerleaders running in from each side while an upbeat song started to play on the speakers. They danced through the empty aisles of the cafeteria, all of the students growing excited at seeing the red and white clad girls and guys performing their routine. After a minute or so of dancing, a large banner with the school's mascot, a wildcat, painted on it was held in front of the same double doors. The head cheerleader Bow held a megaphone in his hand and stood beside the banner.

"Bright Moon High! Are you ready for our Bright Moon Wildcat?!" he yelled at the cafeteria, eliciting cheers and screams from the crowd. This would be the first appearance of the famous Bright Moon Wildcat of the school year, and everyone was excited to see the charming mascot.

Bright Moon High had a lot going for it, it had the highest test scores in the district, and was in the top twenty for the state. Their sports programs were just as spectacular, many athletes moving on to division two and even division one schools. However, one of the most locally famous aspects of Bright Moon High was their cheer team, most specifically their mascot.

Adora and Glimmer's freshman year of high school was when the Wildcat started to get popular. The first half of the school year they were a typical mascot, doing basic dances and performances. No complaints, but nothing spectacular either. Halfway through the school year at a basketball game the wildcat ran out during the first part of the game, confusing the cheer squad and many students. By the time the cheerleaders had to perform, the wildcat showed up mid routine and basically stole the show. It was like they were filled with a newfound energy, and since then, the Bright Moon Wildcat only got better and better.

Soon the mascot was at every pep rally, then every awards presentation, then the mascot walked around the school with the cheerleaders to promote upcoming games. Pretty soon they were able to walk around the school, pop into any classroom, and be greeted like a celebrity. The Bright Moon Wildcat was the most popular person at the school, the only issue was no one knew their true identity. People tried to ask the cheer team, but even the cheerleaders didn't know who the infamous Bright Moon Wildcat was. The mystery of the wildcat's true identity only added to their popularity and in turn got the student body even more excited for sporting events and rallies.

Pretty soon, the cheering had risen to a deafening level, Glimmer and Adora joining in on the screaming, the excitement was contagious. Finally, the Bright Moon wildcat ran through the banner, tearing it in half. The mascot costume was a full body suit with the huge wildcat head on top. Often Adora wondered how the person inside the bulky suit did so many impressive stunts.

The Wildcat ran towards two waiting cheerleaders who were crouched with hands connected then stepped and bounced off the hands, tucking in mid air to perform a backflip. The cafeteria went crazy when the wildcat landed and then the routine continued with the addition of the mascot.

Flawless as usual, the cheerleader's routine was to promote the pep rally after school the next day and encouraging students to come and see more. Bow had picked back up the megaphone and began speaking while the cheer team headed to his side, minus the wildcat. Instead the mascot was making rounds in the cafeteria, going from table to table, giving high fives, hugs, and tapping people on the shoulder who weren't paying attention then pretending to take their food.

"We're so excited for the first game of the season tomorrow, and to make it better, it's a home game!" Bow cheered and the students followed his lead. "Now, the pep rally tomorrow will be after school in the gym at 3:00! We're going to be giving away t-shirts, having a few students perform, some of your most beloved students and faculty competing in lovely games, and most importantly, getting everyone pumped to kick some ass in our first home game!" At his last sentence the students went crazy and cheered again, Glimmer and Adora just as excited.

Adora was too wrapped up in Bow's talking to notice the presence behind her, but when she felt a tap on her shoulder she turned around and smiled widely. Standing there was the Bright Moon Wildcat, one arm tucked behind their back as they bowed to a giggling Adora. Now, Adora may have been a little dense sometimes, but she realized that she was pretty popular at school. She was the quarterback and had led the football team to many victories, but the Wildcat standing in front of her was a huge contributing factor to her popularity as well.

Another unexpected thing that happened when the Bright Moon Wildcat went through their charismatic transformation was a newfound proclivity for Adora. In fact, at some point Sophomore year, the Bright Moon wildcat had gotten so friendly they were practically flirting with Adora. They would always mess up her hair, or purposely smudge her face paint, then hang their head and offer a hug in apology. At one point the wildcat started giving her red lollipops for their 'apologies'. Adora didn't know that mascot uniforms had pockets until one time the wildcat had taken the hat off of Adora's head at a basketball game she was watching. When Adora tried to get the hat back, the wildcat reached a hand into their pocket and offered a red lollipop instead. For some reason, Adora felt so warmed and flatted by the gesture that she giggled and let the wildcat keep the hat, accepting the lollipop. That was at the end of Sophomore year and since then, red lollipops became their thing, and Adora didn't even miss the hat.

By Junior year, Adora was returning the flirting in full force, blowing kisses to the wildcat during games which the wildcat would catch and touch to their cheek with exaggerated motions, and throwing a heart to Adora in response. When Adora scored touchdowns she started pointing to the mascot in pride, always running to greet the Wildcat first after every game. Every time she saw the wildcat they would usually hug and the wildcat would ask for a kiss on the cheek which Adora would first act like she didn't want to do but comply at the end, it was just one of their many things.

The Adora/Bright Moon Wildcat couple quickly became the school's power couple, and despite Adora's attempts to date in the past, this was easily her longest relationship. A sad fact that Adora tried not to think about too much.

"Well, if it isn't my wildcat in shining armor," Adora teased and stood up to meet the wildcat who straightened up.

The Wildcat proudly put their hands on their hips, looking dramatically into the distance, causing those around them to laugh.

"Ooh, someone sure has gotten cocky over the summer, I think it's been too long since we've last seen each other, have you gotten taller?" she asked, while standing on her tip toes to better illustrate her joke. Adora had a few inches on the mascot and liked to remind the mystery person of that.

Waving their free hand to signify blowing it off, the wildcat then pointed to Adora and gestured up and down her entire body. They then clutched their heart and acted like they were fainting, causing Adora's face to redden.

"Ooh damn. Saying you're a knockout!" Glimmer cheered, and the Wildcat excitedly pointed to Glimmer to confirm what she was saying, causing Adora to darken even more. Adora didn't need Glimmer to translate though, she was always able to understand the body language of the Wildcat, because most things between them came natural. The fact that so much of their interactions happened so easily sometimes freaked Adora out, but she tried once again not to think about that too much.

"Oh, hush," Adora giggled, composing herself. "You're such a suck up, I know you say that to all the ladies."

The Bright Moon wildcat vigorously shook their head 'no' then pointed to Adora. _Just you._

Adora couldn't do anything to fight how hot her face was, her pale complexion betraying her. Also she quickly realized that this person stepped up their game even more.

"Well then, my _charming_ Wildcat, what did you come to see me for?" the blonde girl asked with a raised eyebrow, teeth catching her bottom lip. The mascot reached into their pocket and pulled out a red lollipop, handing it to Adora. She accepted it with a warm smile and put it in her pocket.

"Glad you still have my favorite, or else I'd have to stop seeing you," Adora teased with a wink and the Wildcat crossed their arms and hung their head, pouting.

"Ohhhh, I hate when you do that! C'mere, idiot," she laughed, welcoming the familiar embrace of the mascot. For some reason it didn't bother Adora that she didn't know the wildcat's identity, mostly due to the fact that it was all playful flirting, but also because something just felt familiar and secure about the Bright Moon Wildcat's embrace.

"Oy!" Bow said through the megaphone. "If you're done flirting, the cheer squad has to head out," he called to the wildcat who was still holding Adora. Everyone was whooping and whistling while Adora buried her blushing face into the mascot uniform. Any tough reputation she could have had as a football player was completely ruined by the Wildcat's charisma.

"Well that's your cue I gu-AH!" Adora was cut off by the mascot lifting her by the waist and putting her over her shoulder. The mascot was a few inches shorter than her so she wondered how they managed that, but they seemed to do it just fine, while everyone in the cafeteria cheered.

"What are you doing? Put me down, dummy!" Adora laughed as the Bright Moon wildcat shook their head, each year this mystery person got more bold.

"I'll grab your stuff, Adora!" Glimmer shouted after them.

"Don't you dare eat my Oreos, you ass!" the blonde slung over the Wildcat's shoulder warned.

"What was that? It's too loud for me to hear you! Have fun!" Glimmer called with a wave as Adora flipped her off.

"Great, you cost me some Oreos, I should press kidnapping charges," Adora huffed to the masked person. A muffled chuckle escaped the mask and Adora held her breath a moment, it wasn't really anything to go off of, but still it was a sound from the person inside the costume. The wildcat quickly cut it off though and carried Adora after the cheerleaders, back through the double doors.

Adora was carried out of the cafeteria, around the corner and finally let down against an outside wall of the cafeteria. The rest of the cheerleading team kept moving, but the Bright Moon Wildcat stayed with the girl, and Adora smiled slyly.

"So those four years finally caught up with you? You plan to take me right here outside of the cafeteria?" she smirked, deciding to tease a little bit. The wildcat quickly shook their hands and head no to signify that wasn't the intention while Adora grinned.

"You sure? I mean no one is around, we have a few minutes if you wanna make it quick." The mascot seemed to grow flustered, wildly waving their arms trying to communicate while Adora watched fondly.

"Oh come on, dork, I'm just messing with you." She playfully shoved their shoulder to which the Wildcat overreacted with fake pain while Adora rolled her eyes and tried to fight a smile.

They stood for a while just looking at each other. Adora tried to figure out just what was going on in that foam head, while the Wildcat just wanted to find the courage to remove the foam head. After what felt like forever, Adora broke the silence.

"You're something special, Bright Moon Wildcat. I hope you realize that," the girl said softly, a genuine smile on her face. Inside the costume, the person was blushing profusely. "I need to get back to my stuff before class, but I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" The wildcat nodded enthusiastically. "Good, I'll see you around, silly." She stood on her toes and kissed the cheek of the mask, then did a mock bow to the wildcat before heading off.

The Bright Moon Wildcat watched her go before turning back around and heading to the locker room. Once inside, they walked into the equipment office which only the head cheerleader and equipment manager had keys to. After unlocking the door, the Bright Moon wildcat stepped inside and pulled off the wildcat head, revealing a sweaty tan face and lively brown hair pulled back into a ponytail.

Catra sat down on one of the folding chairs, reaching for her water on the desk and guzzling half of the bottle; mascot costumes in the Bright Moon heat were _not_ fun. The dark haired girl sat there for a moment, thinking of the girl with the beautiful blue eyes and wishing she had the guts to flirt with her in a normal setting. Ideally Catra would be able to flirt with Adora in person, but could go further than just teasing and irritating the girl. Unfortunately, she got so flustered seeing her crush of so many years that she defaulted to being a dick, every single time. She finally had the confidence she needed in the costume, but Catra wasn't thrilled at the thought of trying to start a relationship while wearing a giant cat head.

"Are you ever going to tell her?" asked a voice behind her.

"Bow..." Catra groaned. "She'd be so disappointed... hell, everyone would."

"Catra, you don't know that for sure," Bow chastised. "The entire school is in love with you, and I think if you took off the mask, a certain hot football player would be, too." Catra's cheeks instantly colored and she quickly drank more water.

"Look, Glimmer and I grew up together and she's Adora's best friend, I really think you'd have a shot, plus you could actually come sit and hang out with us instead of this weird double life..." Bow reasoned with her.

"We made it this far, it's better off this way. It's been four years, I don't see any point in changing that all now," Catra said calmly as she took off the body of the costume, leaving her in a black tank top and spandex shorts, her entire body sweaty. "Now, I'm gonna go take a shower during my free period because I am fucking disgusting. Are the showers free?"

"Yup. Everyone cleared out," Bow confirmed.

"Thanks Bow, and good work today," Catra complimented her friend, the only friend she had at that high school.

"You weren't too bad yourself! You have good moves, in more ways than one," Bow winked. It was no secret to Bow that Catra had been crushing on Adora since Freshman year, because he was the first to figure it out and call her on it.

" _Please_ shut the fuck up, I'm leaving now," Catra said with a chuckle as she went to shower. Bow watched her go, still so happy that his unexpected friend became the best mascot Bright Moon High had ever seen.

"You're gonna take that costume off this year Catra, and you're getting your girl," Bow smiled to himself.


	2. WildCatra

"Five, six, seven, eight," Bow clapped as the music started which cued him and Catra to begin dancing. Catra focused on the complicated steps for the routine; this was their fifth time running it through and they just about had it perfect. Both her and Bow had worked up quite the sweat, each of them in athletic clothes while rehearsing in Bow's backyard. Bow was sporting a white crop top with the school's logo in red lettering, it was one of the many shirts he was no longer allowed to wear at school. They both performed the moves flawlessly, on beat to the music, and once the final note hit, Catra simultaneously hit the ground doing the splits in one of the quickest drops she'd ever executed.

"That was perfect, Catra!" Bow beamed as he unplugged his phone from the portable speaker while Catra laid back on the grass with a groan of pain.

"This is the fastest I've ever had to drop into the splits before, I think I'm going to break my hips, or pelvis, hell even my vagina at the game tomorrow night," Catra complained, bright eyes flicking to her dark skinned friend who was rolling his eyes.

"Oh, don't be such a drama queen, you're going to do great. All we need to do is run the stunts full out with the rest of the team tomorrow before the game and we'll do amazing," Bow assured her while helping Catra off of the grass.

"Ugh, tomorrow is going to suck, handing out flyers during passing periods, the rally, practice, the game itself. That's _way_ too long in that hot ass cat costume," Catra grumbled, arms crossed as the two headed back into the house to get water.

"I know Catra, but look at it this way: you get to flirt with the love of your life _and_ show off to the school with one of our best routines ever!" Bow offered with a smile while grabbing them each a bottle of water. "Speaking of which, how's that whole situation going?" he asked as he tossed her a bottle.

Sighing, Catra caught it and took a drink, thinking of her interaction with Adora that morning. "I mean, I got her all irritated at me, and she once again got pissed when I tried to flirt with her. So... absolutely no change between us," she informed him stoically.

"Catra!" her friend scolded, "You aren't trying hard enough to be nice. What if you tried being little kinder to her and actually complimented her instead of teasing her? She probably doesn't even realize you're into her because you've been at odds with her your whole life!"

"What am I supposed to do, Bow? She looks at me like she hates me and the only way she'll even pay attention to me is when I'm bothering her. I don't know how to talk to girls and I really don't know how to talk to her and before I know it I'm saying something mean or purposefully pushing her too far," Catra groaned and put her head down on the table.

"But you flirt with her just fine as the Wildcat!" Bow argued.

"Because she doesn't know who I am! She probably thinks it's some cute cheerleader, not Catra, Bright Moon High's most boring and lazy student," she shot back.

"Catra, shut up before I kick your ass! You're the most interesting person in our entire school, the hottest person there, and also the second best dancer," Bow said, adding a wink at second best, because Bow was obviously the first.

"But no one is ever going to know that!"

"They could if you told them," Bow offered calmly, and Catra shook her head violently in disagreement. This had been a constant argument between them since Junior year. Bow began suggesting that Catra reveal her identity, to make it easier on the cheer team, but more importantly to get Catra to come out of her shell and not have to finish out high school being two separate people. Unfortunately, Catra was scared of the repercussions, her flirting with Adora, the way the students would take it, what Adora would think, if she would become the laughing stock of the school, Adora's reaction...Adora.

"Bow, I know you want me to tell everyone, but the crowds and the people, and God there'd be so much attention and-"

"Adora," Bow finished for her with an understanding nod. "I know Catra, but I really think it wouldn't be the end of the world if you told the school, especially Adora. I mean come on, she hasn't dated anyone else and she's like easily the most wanted girl at our school." Bow explained, "Maybe she hasn't dated anyone because she's waiting for a certain mysterious mascot to reveal herself?"

"Bow, we both know Adora hasn't dated anyone because she's denser than top shelf weed, girls throw themselves at her and she still can't figure out why she's single!" Catra growled, tossing her arms in the air exasperatedly.

"You're not wrong," Bow agreed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "I still think you have a shot though and you can't count yourself out if you haven't even enrolled in the seminar!"

"I hate your stupid metaphors," Catra grumbled and Bow pulled her into a sweaty one armed hug.

"I love you, too, Catra. Plus, when you reveal yourself as the mascot you can officially join the Best Friend Squad with me, Glimmer, and Adora!" he beamed.

"Can't wait." Catra pushed Bow's wet arm off of her in disgust, but couldn't fight the small grin that formed. "I'm going to take a shower, and then we have that stupid Stats homework to finish." She reminded him as she headed to the bathroom, she kept extra clothes at Bow's because she always had to rehearse at his house.

Bow groaned loudly in despair from the kitchen at the mention of the assignment and Catra chuckled to herself as she turned on the shower. She waited for the water to heat up and the steam to rise, her mind drifting to the beginning of this entire mascot mess.

**Freshman Year**

_"Kyle! What the hell is going on?" Octavia, the senior captain of the cheer team growled at the small boy as they stood outside of the gym of the basketball game the mascot had just run out of. The tiny Kyle was standing outside the gymnasium in the mascot uniform that was way too big on him and had to be safety pinned multiple times so he wouldn't trip over the consuming cloth._

_Bow had followed them out because him and Kyle were pretty close despite the fact that Kyle was a senior and he was a Freshman. They got along at practice well and Kyle always made sure the underclassmen were on the same page as Octavia who could get a little intense at times, like at the current moment._

_Trailing behind Bow came Catra who was at the first sporting event she had attended of the school year, and only because of the fact that Bow asked her to come. It was the first time Bow was cheering with the varsity squad and as a Freshman it was a huge deal, so when he asked Catra to come and watch him, Catra couldn't say no. She had been helping Bow practice the routine for the past two weeks. At the beginning of the year they had an intro to dance class together and were both the best in the class, this resulted in an unlikely friendship built on the love of dance. Catra started helping him rehearse cheer routines a couple months later and it became one of her favorite weekly activities. All of that being said, she still hated the idea of sports and cheerleading and Bow was lucky that he was the only person she liked at the school._

_Catra and Bow watched the interaction between the head cheerleader and tiny mascot, Octavia seething with anger due to Kyle's unprofessionalism. Kyle slowly took off the head of the uniform to reveal tears streaming down his cheeks. Instantly Octavia softened and placed a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder._

_"Oh my god, Kyle what's wrong?" she asked gently._

_"I saw Rogelio..." Kyle began between sobs. Rogelio had been his boyfriend of three years, and everyone in the school was positive they would end up married. "And he was in the corner on the other side of the gym, and I only saw it because we had turned around and...and he was kissing another guy from the other school," he finally choked out, tears falling harder._

_"That fucker., Octavia hissed, "I'm going to castrate him."_

_"No ,no Octavia it's okay, God I'm so sorry I messed up the routine. He probably doesn't even know I saw, I guess that's the point of cheating." He sniffled before his eyes welled up again with fresh tears. Kyle then started to put the head back on before Octavia stopped him._

_"Uh uh. You aren't going back in there like this. You're emotional, and you need to go kick that manwhore's wimpy ass." She ordered Kyle and the boy frowned._

_"I don't think I can..." Kyle started, but Octavia cut him off again._

_"It isn't a debatable topic, Kyle. You deserve way better, and you are going to drag his ass in front of every student in there! Let the world know he is a cheater who does not deserve the beautiful ray of sunshine that is Kyle. Understood?"_

_"But..." Kyle tried again before Octavia narrowed her eyes._

_"That is an order from your captain, we'll figure out the halftime routine, until then, go do what I said," Octavia told her and Kyle finally nodded in agreement. "Good. Now let's get you out of this outfit."_

_Catra and Bow quickly stepped in to help the still shaking Kyle out of the uniform. Octavia was surprised at their presence, while Kyle simply pulled the dark skinned boy into a tight hug. Catra and Octavia got the costume off of Kyle who headed off to the restroom to fix his appearance. Octavia quickly tossed the outfit at Catra to hold without a word, so Catra stood there dumbfounded and watched Octavia turn to Bow._

_"Freshman. You should have stayed inside to keep cheering, why the fuck are you out here?" Octavia questioned, returning to her earlier attitude, eyes narrowing._

_"I'm sorry Octavia, it's just that Kyle is my friend and I was really worried about him, I didn't mean to disappoint you I swear I just-" Octavia held up her hand._

_"I get it. Friends are important. Just know that in the future, the captain handles these things, and you worry about keeping the show going, understood?" Octavia asked, gaze a bit gentler and Bow quickly nodded, relieved he wasn't being torn a new one. "Good. Now I need to figure out what the hell we do without a mascot. I guess we could adjust some of the formations last minute, change a few lifts here and there, and then maybe..."_

_"Catra knows the routine!" Bow quickly cut in. Both Octavia and Catra's heads snapped up towards the dark skinned Freshman. Octavia's in interest, and Catra's in a 'what the fuck are you doing Bow' expression._

_"She does?" Octavia asked._

_"She does," Bow confirmed._

_"I do?" Catra asked with hesitance. Bow quickly ran to his reserved friend's side._

_"Catra, you know the entire routine, you've been helping me with it for two weeks, you recorded our practice for me so I could keep rehearsing, you've seen that tape just as much as me, and I know you memorize that stuff way faster than me."_

_It was true, Catra did end up helping Bow remember most of the routines from their dance class. It was a lot easier for her to memorize choreography from watching when Bow needed a lot more spoken direction. Both were skilled but she definitely had an advantage in picking up dances the fastest._

_"Bow I don't think I can do this though. I've never danced in a huge outfit, or performed in front of this many people, what if I embarrass myself?" Catra frowned._

_"You'll be in costume the whole time, only a few people knew it was Kyle in the mascot costume to begin with. Look, Catra, right? I promise that no one will know it's you in that outfit, I'll take it to my grave." Octavia put her hand on the dark haired girl's shoulder. "You're our only hope right now."_

_"This is my big shot," Bow begged Catra. The Freshman looked down at the Wildcat's helmet in her hands. She sighed and looked back up at the two cheerleaders._

_"Alright. I'll do it." Catra agreed and the pair cheerleaders beamed brightly._

_"Perfect! Bow, get her dressed, run through any parts you need to, you guys have until we perform during halftime," Octavia warned them and headed back inside._

_"I can't believe that just happened," Catra groaned, handing Bow the outfit while she wrestled her hair into a ponytail. She slid off her flannel leaving her in a tank top and jeans, already dreading the decision._

_"You're gonna have to take your pants off too Catra, or you'll sweat to death," Bow informed her and the brunette groaned once more, thankful they were outside the backdoor._

_"Flattered as always Bow, but you know you aren't my type," Catra muttered and threw her jeans at her friend, leaving her in a black tank top and black panties. Her and Bow had already changed in and out of dance clothes with each other, and both had already seen more than they wanted to. "You owe me big time."_

_"I know. I know. I love you so much." Bow smiled as Catra started removing the safety pins from the costume so it would fit her._

_"Yeah, yeah," She mumbled._

_"And I'll buy you an eighth to make up for it," Bow added. Catra stopped and looked up with a huge smile._

_"Let's go, Bright Moon Wildcats!" she cheered enthusiastically and her friend laughed._

_"Save it for inside, moron." Bow rolled his eyes and walked off holding all of his friend's clothes to put away as Catra slowly transformed into the Bright Moon Wildcat._

_As soon as she put the foam head on, Catra already felt more confident in her abilities. No one would know it was her, she could do whatever she wanted and no one would ever know who she was. She had no reputation because right now, she wasn't Catra, instead she was the Bright Moon Wildcat._

_"Hey, it's a perfect fit!" Bow grinned as he returned from putting Catra's clothes somewhere safe. "How's it feel?"_

_Catra simply shot a thumbs up and Bow raised an eyebrow. "No words?" Catra shook her head in reply, already getting into the role of mascot. Bow just laughed in reply: "Whatever gets you pumped. Come on, let's go over the routine to see if you remember."_

_They ran through the number and Bow was impressed that Catra knew all of the Wildcat's choreography, that girl could_ really _pay attention._

_"Damn, I think you're good to go, kid. Ready to go cheer with the varsity squad?" Bow asked and Catra lifted her clothed arms in reply, jumping in place then clapping massive paws together. The ridiculous tail of the costume swayed behind her. Bow laughed again and started to open the door, then looked back at his best friend._

_"Hey Catra, this will be a first for both of us, cheering with varsity." Bow informed her, and a gloved hand was placed on his shoulder which gave a squeeze. "Thank you for this." Catra nodded in reply, the helmet bobbing a bit comically. Bow chuckled. "Oh man you are_ so _cute in there, the ears... okay, come on, let's go!"_

_As soon as they opened the doors Catra dashed in and ran down the sides of the court, arms raised while Bow froze. He couldn't believe how differently his friend was acting, running around the gymnasium like she owned it. The Bright Moon Wildcat was welcomed back in with thunderous cheers and an excited crowd. Bow glanced at the clock and noticed it was two minutes until the period ended which they would perform at. He headed over to rejoin the cheer team who were also distracted by the reentrance of the mascot, in fact even the basketball players were. A player from the opposing school got distracted and one of the Bright Moon high's players quickly stole it, dribbled down the court and scored which caused even more cheers._

_After the Wildcat finished her rounds, she returned to the rest of the cheerleading squad, everyone looking impressed. Catra glanced up in the stands and almost froze as she saw the eyes of her crush staring directly at her. Adora was in the stands, blonde hair resting on her shoulders underneath a douchey looking snapback, but it made Catra stop breathing. She was wearing a football hoodie and black jean shorts, she looked like the dumbest gayest jock and it was absolutely endearing. Catra's heart was beating so loudly she was sure it was resounding throughout the gym. The girl was looking at her with so much awe that she had never seen before, an expression of joy Catra never received from the blonde._

_It was then that Catra realized Adora was staring and smiling at the Bright Moon Wildcat, not her. Once she realized that fact, she quickly switched gears once again. It wasn't the time for her to wallow in the fact that Adora would never look at Catra like that, only the Wildcat. The buzzer started which was her cue, the Bright Moon Wildcat was ready to blow away the entire school, Adora included._

_And blow away they did. Catra not only performed the routine almost perfectly for someone who had never practiced with the team, but brought so much enthusiasm that it spread to the entire team. That, mixed with some of her improvised moves had the crowd cheering excitedly, including the opposing school._

_When the routine ended, Octavia approached Catra with a huge smile. "That was incredible! I don't know how you made this happen, but you saved our asses and managed to get the whole crowd into this game. I know you only signed up for the routine, but would you be willing to finish out the game?" Octavia asked, trying not to reveal just how hopeful she was that the girl would say yes._

_Catra quickly nodded in agreement, placing her hands on her hips and striking a pose, then another pose, then turning back to the crowd to pose again which only sent them into more excitement. The Bright Moon Wildcat quickly immersed into the crowd, running up and down the stands, giving high fives, taking pictures, and leading the crowd in cheering for the basketball team. Needless to say, it was one of the most spirited nights Bright Moon High had seen in many years._

_By the end of the game, Catra waited until everyone had filed out, sitting in the foyer of the gymnasium. She took a few more pictures with people and watched the crowd head home, still in costume. As the last people were leaving, a tap was felt on Catra's shoulder, she turned to see none other than Adora and her heart jumped at the sight of her crush._

_"I think you finally earned your title," Adora said, and Catra tilted her head quizzically. "You had everyone going crazy in there, Wildcat. Wish that we could have had that same spirit at our football games." She teased. Inside the costume Catra was blushing incredibly hard and smiling like an idiot, shrugging in apology at not being present for the other events._

_"So who are you?" Adora asked with a curious gaze and Catra frowned at the question. She placed one hand on her hip the waved her finger at Adora. Then she lifted her finger to where a person's mouth would be underneath the helmet to make the 'shhhh' gesture. There was no way she was telling anyone she acted like an idiot in there, especially not Adora._

_"Well, I know for a fact that you aren't the same person who was in that costume at the beginning of the game." Catra then froze, how could she know? Was it that obvious? Catra began panicking, wondering if people would start asking questions or trying to figure out who she was. Adora seemed to notice her flustered state despite the costume and snorted a bit. God, Catra was embarrassed to find that little snort laugh so fucking cute._

_"You're way taller, moron." Adora stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "But don't worry, your secret is safe with me, I hope I see you at more games, and around school. Well, I mean I guess I wouldn't really know it was you because you know, you're wearing a costume and are being very stubborn about your identity. But I mean we might see each other every day and I wouldn't even know it, oh god you're going to remember this interaction and think of it every time you see me in the hall and I won't know and-" Catra quickly placed a hand on the taller girl's shoulder gently to stop her rambling. Adora gazed at her, face flushed and her bottom lip caught between her teeth. Catra internally groaned because this girl would be the early death of her._

_She gave Adora's shoulder a reassuring squeeze and then raised her paws to Adora like a Wildcat, feigning like she would grab her. Adora held her own arms up in defense, beaming brightly._

_"You gonna take me on? You know I play football, I could tackle you in a heartbeat," she warned teasingly, causing the mascot to pout and lower her arms._

_"That's what I thought, I'll see you around." Adora winked, and with a wave left the gym foyer. After she left, Catra went back to waiting for Bow, when she was met with another presence._

_"Well that was the best performance I think I've ever seen," a soft voice said and Catra turned to find Kyle standing a few feet from her, eyes dry but very red. Catra quickly removed the helmet of the outfit._

_"Hey! Oh my god I'm so sorry about everything that happened to you and if I embarrassed you as the Wildcat or messed with your reputation or something," Catra stammered to the blonde. Kyle just laughed and waved his hand._

_"Don't apologize, Catra right?" Catra nodded quickly, "I gave Rogelio a piece of my mind and was about ready to leave, but then you busted through those doors and I've never seen someone who was such a natural at exciting the crowd." Kyle complimented and Catra's face reddened._

_"Aw well thank you, I'm sure you're a way better mascot though, I just kinda guessed," she admitted and Kyle's eyes widened._

_"Well then, it's settled. If that was you just guessing, I'd love to see you after you've been taught a few things," Kyle smiled and Catra looked at him in confusion._

_"What do you mean?" she asked._

_"Catra, I want you to be the new Bright Moon Wildcat. I already spoke to Octavia and she agrees, that's where I just came from actually," Kyle informed her._

_"Wait, really? But what about your position, I don't want to take your spot," Catra frowned and began to protest._

_"Oh no don't worry about that, you'd be doing me a favor. I've been wearing that for two years, it's stuffy, too big for me, and I hate trying to dance in it. I'm going to assist with equipment and coaching the cheer team. I'll also help work with you and mascot stuff. With a few tips and tricks, you're going to be the best mascot this school has ever seen," Kyle told her, "So what do you say?"_

_"Yes," Catra answered, and Kyle started to cheer, but Catra stopped him, "However, I do have one condition. My identity stays secret. No one besides you, Octavia, and Bow can know. Anyone else has to be run by me and only out of necessity," Catra said, her identity remained secret would be the only way she could go through with this public humiliation._

_"Deal!" Kyle agreed and Catra smiled big. "Welcome to the team!"_

_Throughout the remainder of Freshman year, Bow and Catra cheered on varsity together, Catra as the Wildcat, and Bow soon becoming one of the top members of the squad. The Bright Moon Wildcat's popularity grew, as did Catra's crush on Adora who she still tormented outside of the Wildcat uniform. However, the girl radiated something that attracted Catra in a way she had never been familiar with, and as the Wildcat grew more skilled with Kyle's guidance, the Wildcat also grew closer to Adora by interacting with her at every chance possible._

_By the end of Freshman year, the friendship between Adora and the Bright Moon Wildcat was well known and slowly the cutests couple of Bright Moon High was born. Bow had become extremely popular, spending time with Octavia and the other cheerleaders, he quickly became well known around the school. Catra managed to continue to fly under the radar, spending a lot of time with Kyle who shared Catra's passion for not being in the spotlight. Kyle taught Catra a lot about being a mascot, and quite a bit of baking as well. The two became very close friends very quickly, many times Catra going to Kyle's house and just napping while Kyle went about his normal routines._

_Bow and Catra didn't let their friendship falter and still hung out, mostly outside of school, but both understood. Bow had another group of friends that were much more popular, one of them being Adora, as well as the rest of the cheer squad. Catra knew she could join them as Bow always invited her, but both understood that if they hung out at school her secret would be revealed, and Catra just wasn't ready for that. She was happy to hang out with Kyle, and no one paid either of them that much attention at school._

_The last day of Freshman year, Kyle gave Catra a graduation ticket and she watched one of her best friend's graduate, top ten in his class, with an acceptance letter to his dream college. Catra was both relieved and saddened by the news, she was proud of Kyle for overcoming his cheating boyfriend and instead of letting himself fall apart, he became independent, worked his ass off, and got into an amazing school, across the country. Catra missed the older boy as soon as he left, but was so grateful she knew him at all._

_The summer of Freshman year, Catra knew that the Bright Moon Wildcat was going to be incredibly special throughout high school, and she didn't intend on letting it go to waste. The summer of Freshman year Catra made the decision that she would try to win over Adora. She had no idea how, but she knew that that stupid ass giant furry cat costume was going to help her do it._


	3. Giggles and Bone Breaks

"Oooh, Adora, your lover is coming down the hall," Glimmer said to Adora as she finished grabbing her books out her locker. She groaned and slammed the locker shut, not wanting to deal with Catra on her way to lunch.

"Ugh, Glimmer, why can't she leave me alone?" the football player whined without even a glance in Glimmer's direction.

"What? No, dummy, I'm talking about your _furry_ lover," Glimmer teased, and Adora quickly turned around. Sure enough, she saw the familiar mascot escorted by Bow. Adora couldn't fight the huge smile that grew on her face; the Bright Moon Wildcat never ceased to brighten her day.

"Hey, Glimmer. Hey, Adora," Bow greeted the pair with his beaming smile. The Bright Moon Wildcat gave Adora a sarcastic curtsy to which the blonde returned with her own bow and a smile. Inside the suit Catra was ecstatic about interacting with Adora again in a way in which she didn't hate her face.

"Are you ready for the game tonight Adora? You'll be there, right Glimmer?" Bow looked between his two friends.

"Totally! Thaymor is gonna get their asses handed to them, and I will _personally_ be delivering it on a silver platter. Well, I mean me and my team will, but I'll be putting in the order!" she finished with a confident thrust of her fist in the air.

Glimmer and Bow shared a look with each other, the look that any friends of Adora developed after hearing enough demonstrations of her 'wit'. Meanwhile, the Wildcat pumped their arms in the air in support of Adora, the two starting a back and forth of excitedly jumping with occasional whooping from Adora herself.

"Unbelievable," Bow mumbled under his breath while Glimmer laughed at the two growing more and more ridiculous. The energy was always high between the that pair. "But completely believable."

"Honestly, those two are the cutest couple at this school and that's pretty fucking sad considering one of them is a giant foam cat." Glimmer shook her head in disbelief.

"I know, right? God, it's so frustrating sometimes 'cause those two would make the cutest couple outside of the costume, too," Bow said, and Glimmer instantly snapped her head to look at Bow.

"Woah woah woah. Wait, you _KNOW_ who the Bright Moon Wildcat is?" Glimmer asked and Bow frowned, not realizing what he had let slip. He cursed himself internally: after all these years of not letting any of his friends know, he let it slip in the dumbest moment. Bow took a deep breath and composed himself before replying.

"Well, I mean, yeah. I'm the captain of the cheerleading team, it would be hard to teach them the moves without knowing who they were," Bow explained, and Glimmer nodded in understanding.

"But you never told us? Told _me_? I've known you my whole life, Bow, we don't keep any secrets... I don't even know who _you_ are," Glimmer accused, dramatically holding the back of her hand to her forehead.

"Well, it's not really _my_ secret personally, I'm just holding it for someone," Bow responded, trying to choose his words carefully because Glimmer was the queen at getting to the bottom of things.

"Mmm, sounds like kind of a pussy answer, but I do respect the secrecy of secrets as you keep many of mine," Glimmer nodded sagely, "but I will not be letting this go, so I need some answers. Is it a girl inside? Is she cute? Does she like actually _like_ like Adora? I know I'm assuming it's a girl, but I mean... why else would you be flirting with the biggest lesbian in school if you weren't a girl who liked girls yourself, you know?" Glimmer fired off rapidly, leaving Bow reeling.

"Glimmer, you fucking need to find your chill. Look, you weren't even supposed to know this much okay? The person in that costume would _kill_ me if they knew anyone else knew that I know, and _especially_ don't tell Adora," Bow warned, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eyes with completely seriousness.

"Of course, of course, I got it," Glimmer agreed before grinning mischievously, "but can you at least tell me if the Wildcat has a crush on Adora?" Bow just glared in reply. "Alright, fine, fine, I tried," she said, raising her hands while Bow rolled his eyes in reply. The pair turned back to their two friends at the end of the hall.

"But, for the record, they're really hot," Bow mumbled and Glimmer grinned in triumph.

Meanwhile, at the end of the hall, a grinning Adora had the school mascot backed into a set of lockers. Well, it was more like Catra was _allowing_ Adora to have the mascot backed into a set of lockers, and she was enjoying every second of it. Adora had a hand on either side of the Wildcat placed on the lockers, effectively trapping the mascot in, at least by Adora's standards. Adora's bookbag was being held in the air by the Wildcat, something Adora could have grabbed herself considering she was taller than the mascot, but they both knew that wasn't the point of their game.

"Alright, I trapped you and you have no escape. Return my book bag and no one gets hurt," Adora said in her best threatening voice while Catra tried not to laugh. It was really fucking stupid how endearing she found the football player. She shook her head no in reply, still defiantly holding the book bag above her head.

"So you wanna play hardball? Alright, I didn't want to do this, but you have left me no choice oh nefarious Wildcat." Adora grinned as she slowly inched her arms to the Wildcat's sides. Inside the suit Catra's heterochromatic eyes widened. There was no way she would do what Catra was thinking, right?

Wrong.

Adora's hands went to the sides of the mascot uniform and began trying to tickle the person underneath the clothing. Unfortunately for Catra, she was extremely ticklish and fought against every urge to start laughing. She did start squirming though, and Adora's tickles only grew more vicious, a wide grin spreading on the taller girl's face.

"Ooh, someone's a little ticklish, aren't they," Adora teased, and Catra couldn't contain it anymore. She began laughing as Adora continued tickling her. At the sound of the laughter, adorable high pitched laughter that made the football player's heart pound, Adora's hands froze and she stared at the helmet for a moment. That laugh was, first of all, definitely feminine, and second of all, the cutest sound Adora had ever heard. It was raspy and cute and really fucking familiar, but definitely a girl. While she thought about the fact that it was a girl inside the mascot uniform, Catra seized the opportunity to pin Adora's hands by lowering her arms over Adora's. The two were caught in a strange hug position, Adora's arms trapped to the mascot's side, and Catra's keeping Adora's still, book bag still in hand.

"You know, if you wanted a hug, you could have just asked me, silly," Adora teased. Inside, Catra blushed, still flustered over Adora hearing her laugh and wondering if she gave anything away. However, Adora looked at the Bright Moon Wildcat the same way with those sweet eyes and that playful smile. If anything, Catra thought she looked even more playful than before. She had to fight off a sigh of relief at the blonde not realizing it was her least favorite person inside.

"I'm going to take your extended staring as a sign that you're too lovestruck to respond," Adora said, continuing to tease the mascot and leaned into her, pulling her into one of the tightest hugs ever. Catra was shocked at her forwardness and extremely flustered, but returned the hug with just as much tightness, enjoying the warm embrace. Adora smiled contently as she hugged the Wildcat, it was the tightest hug she had ever given the mascot.

While the two remained in their longest embrace to ever take place, Glimmer and Bow each snapped pictures for their respective friends down the hall.

"Holy fuck, that's the cutest shit in the world," Glimmer mumbled, "I hope that the Wildcat is her type."

"And what exactly _is_ her type?" Bow asked, sliding his phone back into his pocket, making note to tease Catra to death about it later.

"Hot girls she gets in fights with," Glimmer mumbled under her breath, Bow looking at her quizzically.

"What was that? Sorry, I couldn't hear you."

"Any nice girl that will like her back, honestly," Glimmer sighed. "She needs someone to ask her out, too, or spell it out for her at least because I don't know how much longer I can watch girls drop the biggest hints and her just completely ignore them. I mean, you see her at lunch, Bow, how often does Perfuma bat her eyelashes at Adora only for Adora to ask her if there's something in her eye? It has to piss you off too, I know we don't hang out as much outside of school 'cause of cheer, but you see it too right?"

"Yeah, I do, I guess I've never sat down and talked with Adora about her crushes or type of personalities she likes," Bow answered, and then gasped, bringing his hands to his mouth. "I am a terrible friend! I am, so sorry Glimmer." He pulled her into a hug, the shorter bright haired girl patting Bow on the back.

"Shut up, Bow! You're like, the greatest friend ever, you knitted all of us matching sweaters, and you're also keeping a huge secret for a friend right now," Glimmer consoled him and pulled away. "But it's a secret about Adora's crush, so tell me why we can't know who the fuck is under there."

"A lot of reasons, they're worried about what the school would think for one," Bow admitted, feeling bad for Catra and Adora. He watched the way she released Adora from the hug and gently patted her head which caused Adora to huff and cross her arms. The Wildcat then returned the blonde's book bag, and reached into her pocket to hand her a red lollipop.

"What? Why the hell would they be worried about that? Whoever is in that uniform will become the most popular person in school when they take that suit off." Glimmer frowned, watching the same interaction that Bow did, wishing her best friend could find someone to treat her like that in a relationship. Adora deserved a sweet girl who would treat her well, appreciate Adora's sense of humor, and at the end of the day just make her happy.

"Honestly? Between you and me, I think it's more of the opinion of one individual that the Wildcat is worried about," Bow said softly to Glimmer, both of their eyes still locked on their friends. The Bright Moon Wildcat was staring at the girl who talked animatedly about something, hands waving and face lit up. Inside of the costume, Catra was staring in awe and wonder at the perfect being in front of her. But that awe and wonder, even under a giant cat costume, was still visible to the two friends observing their interaction.

That was when it really sunk in for Glimmer as she watched Adora talk more animatedly than around anyone else. It was the focus the Mascot watched the girl with, hanging on every word with adoration. This wasn't just some playful 'oh you're cute' crush, it was something deeper. The Bright Moon Wildcat was completely into Adora, and more than ever, Glimmer was determined to uncover their true identity.

The pair slowly made their way back down the hall, the Wildcat offering Adora a gloved hand which she gladly took, swinging their hands together as they walked down the hall to rejoin their friends.

"Did you have fun, Wildcat?" Bow teased his friend who nodded enthusiastically and caused Adora to redden. "Good, cause we gotta go make up for all this lost time! Come on, you moron," Bow said and dragged his friend away from the object of her affections.

"Bye!" Adora waved and blew a kiss, which Catra excitedly caught and waved back at the girl.

"You are so fucking whipped," Bow muttered to her friend and Catra just shrugged in reply. "I swear, you and Adora get closer every time you're together, at this rate you're gonna be taking her to prom in the mascot uniform." He said, already planting ideas in Catra's head. "Don't even think about it!" Bow added quickly, knowing how ridiculous Catra got inside the Wildcat suit.

Catra's shoulders sagged and Bow laughed. "I was talking to Glimmer, about you." Bow said softly to his friend, causing Catra to pause. "Don't worry I didn't say anything about your identity." She picked her pace back up.

"But, she finally realized that I know, and I honestly feel like a bad friend having to keep this from her for so long. She understands why, but still." Bow sighed, "Basically what I'm saying is we both think you and Adora would be cute together, and she doesn't even know who you are! That's great news and we really think you have a shot!"

Catra just shook her head and kept walking, completely ignoring his suggestion. She approached a group of excited students with high fives, starting to hand out flyers. Bow just sighed and followed, putting on a smile and ready to promote the game.

"I found out something about the Wildcat!" Adora and Glimmer both told each other at the same time. The best friends both stared at each other for a minute then laughed.

"What did you find out?" Adora asked Glimmer.

"That the Wildcat has a huge ass crush on you, like legitimately," Glimmer admitted, already ignoring her promise to tell Bow she wouldn't mention it. At Glimmer's words, Adora's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed.

"Oh my god..." Adora said in disbelief. She didn't think the Wildcat had an actual crush on her, she started to wonder how long it had been going on, and the implications of all of their interactions.

"What about you? What did you find out?" Glimmer asked her friend and Adora refocused on the present moment. She could overthink things later.

"Oh yeah! The Bright Moon Wildcat is a girl!" Adora whispered excitedly. Glimmer's jaw dropped.

"Holy fuck, really? I fucking knew it, I knew it! I knew it had to be a girl who was your secret crush, a mysterious admirer who is a sensual woman..." Glimmer dramatically leaned back on the wall, tilting her head to the side and holding her arms in what Adora assumed was supposed to be a sexy impression.

"Why?" Adora laughed. Glimmer's theatrics were never new, she was president of the drama club and had been in every school performance since Freshman year. 

"Bow said that the Wildcat is hella cute! And that you two would make a cute couple. Which means a few things, Adora. One: There is a super cute athletic as _fuck_ girl at this school who is into you. Two: You guys are both gay as fuck and would make a cute couple! You basically have a girlfriend," Glimmer exclaimed.

Adora digested the new information, growing more excited the more she thought about it. Finally, Adora came to one conclusion and she looked up at her best friend with a huge smile. "Glimmer, we gotta find out who the Bright Moon Wildcat is."

"No shit, yeah we do! But first we gotta eat, there's no way we can create a master plan on empty stomachs," Glimmer said, making an excellent point.

"Mara bless, I am starving," Adora cheered and led her friend towards the cafeteria, attitude completely turned around.

"Bright Moon High!" Bow's voice boomed through the school loudspeakers. "Who's excited to kick some Thaymor ass tonight?!" he yelled at the filled bleachers of students who attended the pep rally. A glare from Vice Principal Weaver would let anyone know that Bow would be getting detention for profanity, but he was one of the few students charming enough to appease even the cruel Ms. Weaver. The crowd broke out into deafening cheers regardless, everyone was ready to destroy the Thaymor High Mustangs.

The Bright Moon High Wildcat made her entrance into the gymnasium at that point and headed towards a horse the leadership students had built out of boxes and a horse mask. The Wildcat approached the makeshift horse that was painted the opposing school's colors. She quickly mounted the horse and made rough and crude riding gestures, causing the students to erupt into louder cheers while faculty members rolled their eyes, the vice principal's fists clenching.

As the Wildcat inappropriately rode the makeshift mustang, the varsity football team entered and surrounded it, which caused the Wildcat to dismount. The Mascot ran immediately to the quarterback, and hopped on the girl's back. A surprised Adora paused for a minute, but secured the legs beneath her and called to her team to charge. The football team quickly closed in on the object, lifted it into the air with a chant of their school name, and then tossed it across the gymnasium. Adora stood triumphantly with the Wildcat on her back, the mascot climbing up to sit on Adora's shoulders. With a bright red face she stood with the Wildcat proudly pumping her hands in the air on her shoulders. Everyone began cheering again, their last home game against the mustangs did not go well and the Bright Moon High Wildcats were determined to not repeat that mistake.

**Sophomore Year**

_It was the final match of the football season. The winner of the game would advance to the state championships. The Wildcats had had an amazing season and were playing against the Mustangs, who they had beat once during the regular season, so everyone was expecting another win. However, the other team had gotten incredibly better since they last played the Wildcats, and by the fourth quarter, the Mustangs led by three points._

_The cheer team was keeping morale strong. Currently the Bright Moon Wildcat was in the midst of the stands helping the crowd stay invested in the game, which wasn't a difficult task. Everyone was avidly watching the game, nervous and anticipating the outcome, seniors wondering if it would be their last game of the season._

_Adora sat on the bench, knuckles white from how hard she was gripping it. She had made Varsity as a Sophomore, but was still on the bench for big games, Coach wanted her to learn from the first string, he said she could be the best quarterback the school had ever seen._

_In the last play of the game, the Wildcats had the ball and were close enough to run it or throw it by that point. Everyone was on the edge of their seats and watched as the ball was hiked. As the players ran down the field everyone saw that Scorpia, the star receiver, was heading to the end zone wide open. The ball was passed to her with a perfect spiral, heading straight for her arms. Scorpia was infamous for her vice like grip on the ball, sometimes it seemed like she was stabbing the football in mid air and skewering it to her hands._

_Everyone's eyes were on her as the ball began to fall into her arms, victory literally in her grasp. Then the unthinkable happened, an impossible scenario. Scorpia fell. The ball slipped from her grip, the player falling to the ground in a crumpled mess. The Bright Moon High students were all silent for a moment before the words of disappointment began to spread through the crowd. Everyone was devastated._

_On the field, the opposing team was celebrating, it would be their first time competing at the state level and they were ecstatic. The Bright Moon High players seemed to be frozen on the field, no one wanted to move while Scorpia simply laid there on the ground._

_Adora was the first to stand up and start to head over to Scorpia, but Coach stopped her and the other players trying to follow. "Let's all give Scorpia a minute team, we can debrief in the locker rooms." The team mumbled and started walking dejectedly off the field, but Adora couldn't. She turned around and jogged to her teammate, more worried about if Scorpia was okay than losing the game._

_From the stands, the Wildcat headed down to the field where Adora and Scorpia were quickly becoming the last remaining people._

_As Catra made her way towards them, Adora was kneeling by Scorpia, the blonde hardly noticing her arrival. Scorpia's head was still helmeted, tears were running down her sweaty face, white hair sticking to her forehead. The Wildcat moved to Scorpia's other side, offering to help her up with Adora. The other football player finally noticed her arrival and she looked at Catra who nodded at her, Adora quickly understanding and smiling gratefully. No one spoke at first, the mascot and football player helping up the fallen girl. They pulled her off the ground and as soon as she stood, she hissed in pain._

_"My ankle, oh geez, shoot, I landed on it and it twisted or something, and... fuck," she cursed, causing Adora's eyes to widen in shock. Scorpia_ never _cursed, which meant this had to be serious. Catra quickly put her arm around her to support the injured player, leading her towards the back entrance that only maintenance used. Well, maintenance and Catra._

_Adora looked at the mascot with hesitation and Catra quickly realized the football players needed to return to the locker room. Catra made a shooing gesture to Adora and then pointed at Scorpia, herself, and gave a thumbs up._

_"You'll take her to the doctor?" Adora asked to which the mascot nodded vigorously in reply, "We can just bring her back to the locker room and take her from there."_

_"No. Please," Scorpia groaned, "I'm too embarrassed to see anyone, I... I let them all down," she dejectedly insisted from in between the two girls._

_"Scorpia," Adora began._

_"Please, Adora, I'm a senior, I missed the game winning touchdown, just let me go to the doctor alone. Please tell the coach and the team the mascot is taking care of me okay? I promise to text you later," Scorpia begged, too humiliated to face her team._

_Adora looked between Scorpia and the Wildcat trying to decide if she was really going to let one of her injured teammates be escorted to the hospital by an anonymous mascot. But, looking at Scorpia's watery eyes, Adora realized she needed to do this for her teammate and finally nodded in agreement._

_"Okay, I'll let everyone know, but please keep me updated Scorpia, as soon as you get to the hospital okay?" Adora insisted. Scorpia and the mascot both nodding in agreement. With reluctance Adora slowly retreated to the locker room, with a dozen looks over her shoulder to the pair._

_Catra slowly led the injured player out of the service gate, heading to her car that she hid back there. Well,_ started _hiding back there as of a few weeks ago, when she got her license. She reached into her pocket to pull out her keys then unlocked the car. Catra helped Scorpia to the passenger seat and had her face towards the open door while she went to her trunk to find her wrap tape. After grabbing it, she returned to find Scorpia with her helmet off and her head in her hands. Catra kneeled by her feet and took off her costume gloves, then quickly began taking her cleat off the injured foot._

_"I can't believe this, my senior year, my best season, I had scouts looking at me at this game. They expected to see me at state, I already had an offer to play for a division one school, and I go and mess it all up. The team is going to hate me, the school is, and with my ankle, God I'm never going to play again," she choked out, already descending into catastrophic thinking. A few more tears fell down the white haired player's cheeks._

_Catra listened as she removed her shoe and sock, but frowned at the swollen sight she was met with. She glanced up at the teary-eyed wide receiver and made the decision to swallow her pride, this wasn't a job the Bright Moon Wildcat could handle. She slowly removed her mascot helmet and set it beside her._

_"This isn't the end," Catra began, Scorpia's head shooting up in shock, eyes widening at the identity of the girl in front of her. "You're going to play in college, your friends aren't going to hate you, and I will personally make sure this school doesn't try to say anything against you. I saw a lot of people fuck up in this game, and the fact that it had to rely on you in the end shouldn't have happened in the first place. The scouts know that," she informed the larger girl in front of her, the scrawny mascot overshadowed by the wall of muscle._

_Scorpia sat there for a moment, taking in everything that was happening. The girl in front of her made a lot of sense and it did ease Scorpia's emotions a bit. However, her foot was still throbbing. "What about my ankle?" she asked softly with concern and Catra looked down at the swollen and possibly broken body part._

_"Well, Scorpia, I will be your personal escort to the hospital tonight, so buckle up," she told the player. She headed to the driver's side and got in, throwing her gloves and helmet in the back then starting the car. As she pulled out of the school, Scorpia spoke up once more._

_"So, the Bright Moon Wildcat?" she asked with a smirk and received a quick glare._

_"You are a part of an elite group of people who know the true identity of the school's mascot, if you tell anyone, I will break your other ankle," she warned and the girl next to her let out a hearty laugh._

_"Your secret's safe with me, Wildcat," Scorpia assured._

_"Catra," the sophomore informed her, already regretting her good deed of the year._

_"Catra. Yeah, I've seen you around before I think, never would have guessed you were the Wildcat," she admitted._

_"Yeah, most people wouldn't and that's how I like it," she explained as she headed to the hospital._

_"Well, you're doing a damn good job. Speaking of good jobs, you're doing a hell of a one on my teammate, something going on there?" She raised an eyebrow and Catra's cheeks flushed._

_"Don't make me make you walk to the hospital," she warned, and Scorpia laughed again. The two both felt it would be a good start to a wonderful friendship._

_Once the pair arrived at the hospital, Catra having impressively stripped off the mascot suit while at a red light, they headed into the emergency room and spent two hours waiting. In those two hours the two learned a lot about each other, playfully bantering back and forth, and finding out they had a lot in common. Scorpia was a good conversationalist and Catra found her very interesting to talk to, feeling bad for passing early judgements on the football player as being shallow._

_Scorpia's ankle had a minor fracture and she was put on crutches for a few months. In those few months the school didn't hate her and her friends didn't abandon her either. However, she did find herself hanging out with Catra a lot. She was like a breath of fresh air among much of the shallowness that surrounded her. Catra enjoyed the company of the older student occasionally, and it felt nice to banter with someone besides Bow._

_As soon as Scorpia got off her crutches Catra was on her ass everyday to make her exercise. She worked with her practically as a physical therapist, telling her that she wasn't letting her get away with throwing away her offer to play football through her higher education. And, thanks to Catra's pushing, Scorpia graduated with a scholarship; she was slated to play football for an amazing university nearby in the fall. When she started summer conditioning, she texted Catra every day to thank her for what she did for her._

_That was when Catra started to realize that the Wildcat could not be used to solve everything. Maybe Catra was capable of more than she thought._


	4. Princess of Football

The rally turned out to be a huge success. The student body was extremely excited for the game that night and it was a great way to kick off the season. Sea Hawk performed multiple songs with a self choreographed dance that received a mixed, but enthusiastic response.

The cheerleading team and leadership students were left to clean up as students filed out of the bleachers, Cara heading to the equipment room to change and then home to relax before the game. Bow was working on taking down some streamers when Glimmer and Adora headed over to meet him.

"Hey, Glimmer, Adora!" Bow called to both girls. Adora only had to participate in the beginning of the rally, but she was already picking up trash to help out.

"Hi, Bow," Adora smiled, "amazing rally!"

"Yeah, it was really dope," Glimmer agreed and Bow smiled brightly.

"Glad you guys enjoyed it, you did awesome too Adora!" Bow beamed. "I can't wait for the game tonight!"

"Thanks, Bow, your cheering is what helps us win," Adora grinned. "But uh, I wanted to actually ask you for a favor if that's okay?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck and looking up at the ceiling.

"Yeah, what's up?" Bow asked, turning back to taking down decorations.

"Well, I just, uh... really want to give the mascot or whoever they are a uh..." Adora stammered, eliciting an eyeroll from Glimmer, who yanked a piece of fabric out of Adora's book bag.

"This is Adora's other football jersey, Bow. Could you please give this to the mascot and tell her that Adora wants her to wear it to the game tonight?" Glimmer sighed, shoving the jersey at Bow, whose jaw had completely dropped.

"Wait you want me to...?" Bow trailed off, looking from his pink haired friend to Adora, whose face was redder than a tomato by that point. Adora just nodded slightly in response.

"Yes, Bow! Now come on, we gotta go get ready for tonight, and start making a plan for finding out who your princess charming is," Glimmer teased and dragged Adora off, leaving a very confused Bow in the middle of the gymnasium. With a shrug, he threw the jersey over his shoulder and continued cleaning.

About twenty minutes later, Catra waltzed into the now empty gym, Bow having sent the rest of the team off to get changed after cleaning up most of the decorations. Her hair was damp and fell in a mane around her face. She approached Bow with a clap on his back, the taller boy jumping before turning to his friend.

"Feeling better, Catra?" he asked with a smile.

"Much. God, it was so fucking hot today, sometimes I would rather be in class as opposed to sweating my tits off in this cat suit," she sighed. "But the rally went really well, you really killed it bud."

"Aww, thanks Catra, I knew you had a heart." Bow beamed and pulled her into a half hug, causing Catra to fight off his grip.

"Don't get all sappy, crop top king, I was just making an observation," Catra grumbled.

"Suuuuuure," Bow grinned. "Anyway, a certain football player would be really honored if you would wear her jersey as the mascot tonight," he began, pulling the football jersey off his shoulder as Catra's eyes widened.

"Wait, are you fucking serious?" Catra asked, taking the soft white jersey in her hands, the red one being what Adora wore at the game that night. "But football players only have the people they're dating wear their jerseys..." she trailed off in disbelief.

"She told me to give it to you, so I would think it's safe to say that the Bright Moon High Wildcat is kinda dating the star Quarterback a little bit," Bow responded, Catra already trying to fight off the millions of butterflies that filled her stomach. She felt like she was about to vomit, and maybe if she did all of her feelings of Adora could be expelled along with her bile. Her head was reeling; suddenly she was so angry and jealous, but of who? Herself?

"Fuck." Catra whispered, holding the jersey up to the light.

"Alright, we have three hours. Adora, grab your laptop, I want a tab open on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Pronto!" Glimmer ordered. Adora rolled her eyes, but did as the girl said while Glimmer grabbed last year's yearbook and opened it to their class page. "Okay, time to start narrowing down. I'm going to give you possible names, and I want you to cross reference them on social media. Primarily, look for their relation to the cheerleading squad, and if they have any chance of being gay."

"Don't you think this is a bit excessive?" Adora began and Glimmer glared at her.

"Adora, do you want to spend the rest of your life wondering who's behind that mask? Wondering what would have happened if you had taken a chance to figure it out?"

"No..."

"Good, now pull up Bow's accounts, we're starting with all of his friends on the cheer team we don't already know," Glimmer instructed, and Adora complied. Two and a half hours of intense social media stalking later, and though the pair of friends eliminated many possible candidates, they were no closer to discovering the identity of the Bright Moon Wildcat.

"Glimmer, we aren't any closer than when we started. This is exhausting and I have to get to the school soon to warm up before the game," Adora groaned, having just gone back four years on Mermista's Facebook which was a mess. "Maybe we can just ask her nicely to take the suit off for us?"

"No way! Look, we eliminated a solid fifty girls in our class, that leaves us with thirty girls who could possibly be the Wildcat," Glimmer said, looking at the yearbook page.

"That's still so many!" Adora exclaimed. She flopped onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow, just wishing she could find out who this supposed cute girl with a crush on her was. After five minutes of Adora sulking, Glimmer broke the silence again.

"What about Catra?" Glimmer asked and Adora instantly perked up.

"Woah, wait, what?" Adora sat up and looked at her best friend. "What would make you think that? Catra is, like, the least spirited person at school, and she doesn't seem like the perky type, and also did you forget about the fact that she hates my guts?"

"Well, think about it, it makes sense. Catra has never been at a sporting event or a rally, and it would be the perfect cover up. Plus, she's hot, objectively speaking," Glimmer explained. "And we know that whoever it is is a hot chick, so why not her?"

"Glimmer, are you listening to yourself? This is Catra, the girl who walked through the middle of a spirit week rally in the quad dressed in all black and didn't even _notice_ it was a spirit week rally. Even when someone told her! She just kept walking, like... I'm pretty sure she has some anti-school-spirit forcefield. Plus, does Catra seem like the dancing type?" Adora pointed out and Glimmer thought about it. Her mind wandered to Catra's wardrobe, the pairs of black skinny jeans, black ripped jeans, black sweats, and the possibility of a dancer's body underneath. Warmth flooded Adora's cheeks and she slapped her cheeks, earning a questioning look from Glimmer.

"Yeah, you're right, it couldn't be her. I think I saw her kill an entire pack of Oreos one day, and then the mascot performed at lunch. No way someone could pull that off without puking. Still, she's really hot though," Glimmer insisted and Adora's cheeks flushed even darker.

"Can't argue with you there," Adora agreed and Glimmer stuck her tongue out at her.

"Gay."

"Well, I mean yeah. That's why we're doing this." Adora's response came with an eye roll.

"Ooh wait, okay, I have a really good idea!" Glimmer exclaimed suddenly, and Adora jumped.

"What? Fuck, Glimmer, keep it down," the blonde sighed, pressing her hand to her chest at Glimmer's sudden screaming.

"Okay, so, our Freshman year, remember how you told me that the mascot changed?" Glimmer asked and Adora nodded.

"Yeah, it was impossible not to notice. They went from being a pretty forgettable performer to some kind of professional."

"Alright, so, the original mascot would have to know who the new one was, which means, if we pull up pictures from that basketball game Freshman year, then find a picture of the cheer squad in the yearbook, all we have to do is find who's not in the picture and bam, real mascot," Glimmer explained, and Adora frowned.

"What if the original mascot had their identity hidden in the same way?" Adora asked and Glimmer shook her head.

"No one cared about the first one! I don't think the person wasn't known because of secrecy, it was just because no one paid attention. Now, you pull up the picture and I'll go through the yearbook," Glimmer ordered once more and went to grab Adora's Freshman yearbook.

After ten minutes of going backwards, the girls found who they were looking for.

"Kyle!" Adora exclaimed excitedly.

"Who?" Glimmer frowned.

"Kyle, the senior who was dating Rogelio forever, but then he cheated on him? I had Home Economics with him and he is the only reason I didn't fail," she admitted. Adora recalled the class, and the senior making sure that Adora's dishes didn't turn out burnt or inedible. Kyle was patient through each undercooked meal and saved Adora from confusing sugar with salt countless times.

"Oh! Him! Yeah, I remember who he is, do you have his number?" Glimmer asked.

"Yeah I think so, but I mean... we haven't talked much in the past few years," Adora admitted in embarrassment. "Isn't that a little rude, calling out of the blue like that?"

"Not if you explain yourself, isn't he one of the most docile humans ever? I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from you!" Glimmer assured her and Adora shrugged, unlocking her phone. She was fond of the older boy and just prayed that this wouldn't be too strange. She pulled up Kyle's information and pressed the call button, waiting a few rings before hearing a click.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey, Kyle! This is Adora, uh Adora from Bright Moon high, we had Home Ec together your senior year," Adora began.

 _"Hey, Adora! Of course I remember you, what's up? Did you need my peanut butter cookie recipe? I know how much you liked that one."_ Adora's fears dissolved at the sound of the boy's cheery voice.

"Oh no, thank you. Okay well actually could you send me that? I really miss those. But, no that's not why I called. I actually called on a very strange request."

_"Shoot."_

"Okay so, um long story short me and Glimmer know that you were the Bright Moon Wildcat the beginning of our Freshman year," Adora began and was met with silence for a moment.

 _"Um...yeah I was. I don't really know where you're going with this,"_ Kyle replied in confusion.

"Well, so you may or may not know, but me and the new Bright Moon Wildcat have an interesting relationship and well, I know she's a girl and, um, my friend and I have been trying to find out her real identity. So, we figured that you of all people must know, right? And we were wondering if you could help us out?" Adora finished quickly with hope filled words, Kyle busting out into laughter on the other end.

 _"Oh wow. You guys really did your research, I kinda want to tell you just because of the effort you went through,"_ he admitted.

"So you'll tell us!" Adora exclaimed, causing Glimmer to jump up and down excitedly, pink and purple hair bouncing.

 _"No,"_ Kyle said, and you could hear the smirk in his voice.

"But, why?" Adora groaned.

 _"Because it's not my place to tell, however, I do know that that dumbass needs to take the suit off and tell people the truth. Honestly I'm shocked it's gone on this long, God... I hope I don't lose that bet with Scorpia..."_ He mumbled to himself and trailed off.

"Bet?"

 _"Nothing, don't worry about it. But yeah, Adora, I'm really sorry to say that I am sworn to an oath to not reveal the identity of the Wildcat. I know for a fact that she would fly to my school to strangle me if I told anyone, especially you,"_ Kyle explained.

"Ugh, this is so frustrating!" Adora huffed.

 _"I know man, I'm really sorry I can't tell you, but just know that a lot of us are doing everything we can to convince her to take off that mascot outfit. Hopefully you'll find out who your Wildcat in shining armor is one day,"_ Kyle teased, and Adora smiled gratefully.

"Yeah, I understand. Thank you, Kyle, _so_ much, and sorry to bother you," Adora apologized.

 _"Oh no, this has been the highlight of my day! Don't be a stranger Adora, text me occasionally and keep me updated on this situation, I'm very excited to keep up with both sides,"_ Kyle replied.

"So you stay in contact with the Wildcat?" Adora asked in curiosity.

 _"Yeah, she's a really good friend of mine. Anyway, keep in touch okay? I gotta go now, it was great talking to you. Oh, and I'll send you that cookie recipe tonight. Goodbye!"_ Kyle said happily before a click that left Adora's phone silent.

"Bye, Kyle, thanks again," she responded before hanging up the phone.

"Any luck?" Glimmer asked, having already overheard most of the conversation, but trying to be polite.

"No, not really," Adora sighed. She flung her phone onto her mattress and fell back with the same carelessness.

"Well, we made a lot of progress," Glimmer comforted her friend, placing a hand on her knee. "Listen, I need to go get ready for tonight, you rest up and get ready for your game okay Miss Quarterback? You gotta throw that ball around and impress your lover," the shorter girl reminded, causing Adora to snort in amusement.

"I appreciate you coming to all of my games and still not understanding the sport."

"Hey!" Glimmer objected, "I learned what a touchdown is, which side you need to score it on, and what a field goal is." She stuck her tongue out defiantly.

"My bad, Glimmer, I'm so glad you've learned so much from supporting my sport. You really are the greatest friend." Sarcasm dripped from the blonde's words.

"And don't you forget it, catch you later!" Glimmer gave Adora a kiss on the cheek then scurried out the door. She was one of the quickest people Adora had ever met.

Adora laid back and stared at the ceiling, mind in disarray. The thought of the mascot's true identity was quickly becoming more stressful than fun. She just wanted to know who this mystery girl was, who could give her butterflies without ever speaking a word. Adora felt like she was crazy, developing this strange crush on someone she didn't even know.

Muffled vibrations let Adora know it was time to get ready for the game that night, she wrestled her phone from the confines of her blanket trying to silence the alarm tune she never bothered to change. With a crack of her neck she picked up her football duffle and headed out of her room to drive to the game.

That night, the game was in full swing, the stands were full and energy was high. By half time the Wildcats were leading by twelve points and the Bright Moon High students were in good spirits. The cheer routine at half time went amazing as usual and the Bright Moon Wildcat blew away the student body as usual, along with the rest of the cheerleaders. When their routine ended, Catra quickly looked back for if the football team had returned from the locker rooms yet. She beamed inside the costume as she saw Adora leading the team in a jog back onto the field, all of them holding their helmets.

Adora kept her eyes on the cheer team, she hadn't even had a moment to look at them since the game started, and was so curious to know if the mascot was wearing her other jersey. Once she spotted the Wildcat she imploded with excitement to see her white jersey with the number 55 slipped over the mascot costume. The mascot spotted Adora and jogged over to fall in easy stride next to the quarterback earning cheers from the stands.

Without looking, Catra could already feel Coach Micah glaring at her as she ran with the team back to the benches. She had gained what some would call, a negative reputation, among most of the coaches at the school. They weren't a fan of her interactions with the players, but no one hated her more than coach Micah.

The Bright Moon High football coach, also the head of the science department, had been trying to figure out the identity of the mascot for the past three years. He insisted to the principal that the Wildcat was a distraction for his team and players, especially his star quarterback. But unfortunately his team was still too good for any of his claims to matter. Not to be deterred, Coach Micah still made every attempt to stop the mascot from bothering his team.

"Hiya, Wildcat, that jersey looks good on you." Adora winked, the blonde hair sticking out of her ponytail plastered to her face with sweat. To Catra she looked absolutely stunning.

The Wildcat shot a double thumbs up as they reached a stop at the benches. She wrapped her arms around herself in a big hug, another bright smile overtaking Adora's face.

"Tell you what, you keep it, and when we have an away game I'll swap back with you okay?" Adora held out her hand to shake and the Wildcat animatedly wrapped both hands around Adora's and wildly shook it. She then pulled Adora into a hug where she lifted her off the ground and spun her around. Adora was laughing and playfully hitting at the mascot to put her down, until they were interrupted by a loud cough.

"Wildcat. I would really appreciate it if you let my quarterback focus on the game? We're in the lead, but I would prefer to concentrate on winning in the moment instead of flirting with giant anthropomorphic cats, is that okay with you Adora?" The coach looked at the scene in front of him, arms crossed and eyes darting between the two. Sheepishly, the mascot set the red faced football player down and rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"I, uh..." Adora began, unsure what to say.

" _Today,_ Adora." Coach warned from behind her.

"I better go, but, uh, yeah. See you after the game?" Adora half asked-half stated as she put her helmet back on. She gave a shaky hesitant wave to the Wildcat and jogged back to her team, the mascot chuckling inside her outfit as she headed back to the cheerleaders. Catra was already pushing her luck with Coach Micah and she didn't need to give him another reason to yell at her.

Catra returned to the cheer team, working on energizing the crowd, as she had noticed that Adora always played better when the crowd was just as invested. Halftime ended and the game resumed, with Adora throwing an incredible pass in their first play to Sea Hawk. The young man was notorious for slipping away from anyone who tried to tackle him, and with all of the distance Adora threw for them, it was a quick journey to the end zone. Cheers erupted from the home team bleachers as the touchdown was scored, Adora immediately getting clapped on the back by her team for such an amazing throw.

Adora looked over to the cheer team and saw the Wildcat running, dancing, and flipping in celebration. A wide grin spread over the quarterback's face as she turned back to set up for the next play with the team. Coach Micah always lectured them about getting distracted, and had given Adora plenty of one-on-one talks about her being specifically distracted by the mascot. What the coach didn't realize, though, was that the excitement from the Wildcat only inspired her to be better.

Adora could never resist a chance to show off, after all.

Poor Thaymor was under attack for the rest of the game, Bright Moon High releasing a relentless barrage on the unsuspecting team. They finished the game with a huge lead, the final seconds counting down drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. Cheerleaders, football players, and other friends from the stands started to flood the field. Adora was surrounded by teammates all high off of the victory of winning. The jumping and cheering continued until people realized they wanted to be at home instead of in the middle of a football field. Slowly people started filing off, the football team headed to the locker room with Adora following, but she turned around and saw someone still standing on the field.

Adora glanced back towards her team and was surprised to find her coach had stopped moving and was watching her.

"Coach I-"

"I'll see you at practice Monday morning before school Adora, I have no critiques for tonight so you take your time," he said with a lazy hand wave, turning around to head back to the locker room. The blonde stood there in disbelief, then quickly shook it off realizing what Coach Micah was giving her. She started jogging to the last person left on the field, the mascot patiently awaiting her arrival.

"Hey, Wildcat." Adora smiled, a bit breathless, to which she received a wave in reply. "So, do you usually wait in the middle of the field after football games?"

The mascot nodded vigorously in reply, and at first Adora thought she was joking, but then realized that if the person was anonymous she probably did do this all the time.

"You have to wait so no one sees you go change, huh?" Adora clarified and received only a curt nod in response that time.

"Maybe there's some secret place you can change? Under the bleachers?" The football player suggested, earning an amused exhale of air from inside the suit in response. Catra started walking the opposite direction of the field entrance and Adora walked beside her without a thought, continuing with her suggestions.

"If you wanted you could come change in the locker rooms with us and I could just block your stall until everyone else leaves and then...Well I guess I'll leave and then you can wait a minute and then come out so I don't accidentally see you? No you might as well just wait in the middle of the field then if that's the case, better than being like half naked or something waiting for people to leave. Not that I think about you half naked, because I don't even know what you look like. That doesn't mean if I did know I would think of you that way, I mean I'm sure you're beautiful, but I don't like to think of women that way-No well I mean I do think of women that way because I'm gay I just-" Heat bloomed in Adora's face as she rambled helplessly on before hearing that high pitched raspy laugh again from inside the suit. At the sound of that laugh Adora froze, and stared at the mascot in awe.

Fuck, that was cute.

Composing herself after the mascot stopped laughing at Adora, the football player shoved the Wildcat while grumbling about being the only one who spoke in this relationship. After turning her focus from the mascot, she realized they had walked out one of the service exits, but didn't see any cars. She assumed the Wildcat kept her car parked somewhere else near the service exit, but obviously wouldn't bring Adora there.

"You know, Wildcat, taking a girl to your secret places, giving her gifts, if you keep this up I might start to think you have a crush on me," Adora teased, setting her football helmet on one of the poles for the service gate. She was still flushed and a bit sweaty from the game and had all of her gear on, but Catra thought she was breathtaking. Instead of responding to her teasing, she just stared at the girl she had been crushing on for what felt like her whole life. All she could do was stare at the most beautiful woman she had ever seen, with her crooked smile that could slide through the cracks in any walls around your heart. Catra felt like if her heart beat any faster she was going to be diagnosed with premature heart damage.

The two remained near the service entrance just looking at each other, a habit they both seemed to share, Adora staring in pure curiosity at the mystery woman before her. Finally, Adora was obviously the one to break the silence.

"So, you do like me? Just making sure." She wriggled her eyebrows, causing Catra to redden inside the costume. She shook her head in weak objection, but her and Adora both knew it was just a performance at that point.

"I knew you liked me!" Adora beamed, "Now all you have to do is take off that helmet." She said, lightly flicking the Wildcat head to the suit. Catra shook her head no in reply again and Adora crossed her arms then jutted her lower lip out into a pout. Catra put her hands on her hips in reply, determined to outlast the stubborn girl, because she was a stubborn ass too.

"Please?" Adora asked sweetly, but Catra continued to shake her head, there was no way she could reveal herself, Adora would be appalled and probably disgusted. "Awe come on! It's our senior year, are you going to leave me hanging the entire time? Leave me to wonder for the rest of my life?"

 _Now's your chance Catra._ The mascot thought to herself and took Adora's hands then gently guided them to cover Adora's eyes. After making the gesture, Catra released her hands and Adora lowered them back to her sides.

"You want me to close my eyes?" she confirmed and Catra nodded. "You want me to keep them closed?" Another nod. "Okay, you better not kill me or Glimmer will be pissed," she warned and closed her eyes, bringing her hands up to cover them completely. The blonde completely trusted this person she knew nothing about, which probably was not a good thing.

Catra quickly waved her hands in front of Adora's face and the taller girl didn't flinch in the slightest. Catra, satisfied, took a deep breath and tried to calm her heart before she passed out. Was she prone to heart palpitations? She cursed herself for having no knowledge of her familial medical history.

With shaky hands, she lifted the familiar Wildcat helmet off and took a minute to admire how beautiful Adora was without the mesh obscuring her view. Her lips were parted slightly, Catra could hear her nervous breath exhale between them. Sections of her blonde hair reflected pale gold underneath the almost full moon that night.

"I hope you're still there," Adora chuckled, but Catra could sense the bit of concern laced in her voice. She quickly touched a gloved hand to the girl's shoulder in assurance and slowly leaned her head in, unable to believe what she was about to do.

Carefully, Catra placed the softest kiss possible on Adora's cheek, the girl jumping slightly in surprise, but the widest grin breaking out on her face.

"This is the best I can give you for now, princess," Catra whispered in the lowest and quietest voice possible, barely audible to even Adora. "Open your eyes in thirty seconds." With another soft kiss on her cheek, Adora felt the warm presence beside her disappear.

After the longest thirty seconds of her life, Adora opened her eyes and quickly scanned the area for any sign of the mascot, but couldn't find any. Instead she touched her cheek where the soft lips had been only moments ago. With the biggest smile on her face, Adora headed back towards the locker room to change as quickly as possible. She had to get home and call Glimmer.

Around the corner of the locker rooms, Catra watched her crush leave with a smile. She couldn't believe what she had just done, but seeing Adora's reaction filled Catra's stomach with butterflies. Finally feeling like she could move again, Catra made her way to her car that was always parked in the back and got inside of the vehicle. She drove out of the service road exit and back towards her house, unable to wipe the smile off of her face.

_I just kissed Adora._

Once Catra got home she immediately headed to her room and chucked her duffle on the floor to get ready for a shower. It was Friday and her housemates weren't around, but she didn't necessarily feel like talking to anyone else. Her mind was occupied by thoughts of Adora, only for them to be interrupted by her phone ringing.

"What?" Catra said, not even checking the caller id.

 _"Hello to you, too, Catra!"_ the voice on the other end happily greeted, Catra immediately recognizing it.

"Hey Kyle! What's up?" Catra asked, letting down her hair and flopping on her floor.

_"Nothing much actually, just busy with classes. However, I did call to tell you about a very interesting phone call I received today."_

"Mmm, about what?" Catra mumbled, she was exhausted from the long day and was more than ready to pass out, plus she still needed to shower.

 _"Well, a certain someone called me asking me if I possibly knew who the Bright Moon Wildcat's true identity really was,"_ Kyle began and Catra sprang up.

"Who? What happened? What the fuck?" Catra demanded, panic settling into her bones.

 _"Relax, Catra,"_ Kyle chuckled and then proceeded to explain the entire phone call with Adora earlier that day, leaving out the bet portion.

"Holy shit, how much digging have they been doing?" Catra asked in disbelief that the pair of friends had dug back far enough to find out Kyle was the original mascot.

 _"I have no clue. But Catra, don't you get what this means? Adora is definitely interested in whoever is in the Wildcat suit. Also known as you. Adora is interested in you,"_ Kyle stated. Catra just shook her head no until she realized Kyle couldn't see her.

"No she's not, she just likes the idea of whoever is inside it," Catra sighed, deciding not to mention their interaction after the game. Catra herself was still trying to wrap her mind around all of that.

 _"Catra, I honestly think if you take off the suit, Adora will really like you,"_ Kyle tried to get through to the stubborn young adult, but Catra wasn't having it.

"I'm not taking it off Kyle, I made it this far, I only have a year left and then we can all forget about the Bright Moon Wildcat."

 _"Adora won't,"_ Kyle responded quickly and was met with a long moment of silence.

"I've had a really long day, Kyle, and I need to go to bed. I'll text you tomorrow alright? I love you," Catra mumbled to him and Kyle sighed.

 _"Goodnight, Catra, I love you too,"_ the older boy replied and Catra pressed the end button on the call. She sighed and thought of all of the events of the day as she looked at the mascot helmet that sat on the edge of her room.

"What the fuck am I gonna do?" Catra asked herself. 


	5. I Volunteer as Gay

Adora was an outstanding student, taking all the AP classes she possibly could, always volunteering and performing at community service events, and also just being an incredibly nice person to all those she encountered. However, amongst all of these qualities, Adora wasn't well known for her _punctuality_ to events. She couldn't count the amount of times she had walked into a classroom right as the bell rang or missed the opening credits to a movie. It always baffled her how even if she tried to get ready with plenty of time to spare, she still somehow ended up late.

Running around her house with one sock on and a toothbrush hanging out of her mouth while she tried to find a pair of pants, Adora wasn't questioning why she was running late that particular morning. Her alarm didn't go off at eight a.m. like she had originally set it, and she had to be at the soup kitchen by nine, which led to Adora running out of her house at 8:55 throwing her hair into a lazy ponytail.

Adora arrived at 9:05 am and dashed into the volunteer entrance where people were milling about, some moving containers of food, other's speaking amongst themselves, and a few holding clipboards. From past community service experiences, Adora learned to always speak to the people with clipboards first. She headed over to a woman with her back turned and bright white hair, the hair immediately reminded Adora of-

"Scorpia?" Adora asked the taller woman, who turned around and eyes widened at seeing Adora. She immediately cracked a smile and pulled Adora into a bone crushing hug.

"Blondie! It is _so_ good to see you! Aw man, what's it been now, like, two years? Wow, time sure does fly doesn't it? But, anyway, tell me about you, what're you up to, how's life?" The powerful woman looked at Adora expectantly.

"Well, uh, school is good, the team is doing really well, I'm doing pretty good as the quarterback," Adora began, rubbing her neck. Scorpia nodded along with eyes sparkling, hanging onto Adora's every word. "But right now I'm just trying to help out with my applications, I want to do some extra community service besides the required amount for graduation."

"Well, I am _so_ glad to hear all of that and that everything is going so well. As for volunteering, well, you've clearly come to the right place!" Scorpia chuckled at herself. "Anyway let me get you signed in and all set up. I've been here for a couple years now, so I take it it's your first time?" Scorpia asked, already scribbling on the clipboard.

"First time here, yes! I haven't served food before, but I have cleaned up a lot of trash," Adora explained, recalling the miles of highway she volunteered to clean over the years. "Are you going to college in the next town over?" she asked curiously, receiving a nod from Scorpia.

"Yeah, I'm actually playing on the football team at Crimson U. I'm on their offensive line, turns out I am _really_ good at tackling people?" Scorpia beamed at Adora who looked at the towering wall of muscle that was the white haired woman.

"Who knew?" Adora shrugged. "So, what would you like me to do first?"

"Well, first I'm gonna have one of our veteran volunteers show you the ropes and you can hang out with them throughout the day. They'll give you directions and teach you how we run everything, I hope you're ready to work," Scorpia grinned.

"I definitely am," Adora assured the older woman who clapped her on the back with enough force to make the blonde stagger.

"That's what I like to hear! Alright, let's see who we can have help you out, you want someone cool and hip, also someone who isn't annoying, because let's face it... some of these people are just not that fun to be around," she mumbled to Adora. "Don't tell anyone I said that."

"My lips are sealed."

"I always knew I liked you, Adora, and not just because you helped me when I broke my ankle. Let me go find someone for you and I'll be right back," Scorpia informed her, leaving Adora waiting for whoever would be training her. Eventually Adora heard voices and turned to see Scorpia walk over with the last person Adora expected or wanted to see.

"Come on, Scorpia, I'm hella tired and don't wanna train someone new," the girl walking beside Adora whined. Pinching herself, Adora tried to wake herself up from whatever dream she was in. But, sure enough, walking up to her in a pair of dark grey jeans, black boots, a red flannel, and a backwards black snapback was Catra.

 _Holy fuck, I am so gay_ , Adora thought to herself as she saw Catra's outfit while she walked up to them.

"You know you're the best one for this Catra, now come on," Scorpia scolded the younger woman gently, but the smirk on Catra's face melted away when she saw the blonde.

"Adora?" Catra asked, and Adora's face involuntary heated up just at hearing the tan skinned girl say her name.

"Oh, perfect! You two already know each other," Scorpia remarked with a wicked grin while Adora and Catra both stared at each other wide-eyed. Each girl started freaking out for completely different reasons internally.

"Okay, Catra, Adora here is new so show her the ropes and have her serve with you," she instructed before turning to everyone else. "We're serving at ten everyone!" she announced in a surprisingly commanding voice, while people stopped to listen. "You know what to do. Remember to sign out with me before leaving and I'll sign off your hours, now get to work." She instructed and everyone quickly went off to their stations. Meanwhile, Adora and Catra continued to stare at each other.

"Hey." Adora broke the silence.

"Hey, Adora," Catra responded, stoic in comparison to the normal lilt in her voice.

"Look, Catra, I really wanna just help out today so do you think that maybe we could call a truce on whatever...thing we have?" Adora asked. Catra bit her lip, she was tempted to snarkily reply to the blonde, but she realized she needed to start making attempts outside of the suit as well.

"Yeah, truce. As long as you don't fuck something up or spill food on people." Catra smirked at the girl, taking a moment to eye the black joggers the other girl was wearing, a simple sleeveless red workout shirt on top of that. Catra had a personal theory that Adora only owned athletic clothes, and she had been in the same class with her since kindergarten. She wasn't complaining though, because the blonde's arms in a sleeveless shirt were a gift Catra would gratefully accept any day.

"Oh, God, I hope not, that would be so awful. What if it happens? Oh shit, I'm going to trip and spill like an entire container of soup everywhere and that's everyone's food and then everyone is going to starve and it'll be all my fault then they won't let me volunteer anymore, then I'll be black listed from any kind of community service, I'll never be able to serve any community again-" Adora's rambling was cut off by the loud laughter of Catra. The laugh was loud, free, and rendered any intimidating factor Catra had beforehand as invalid. Adora couldn't fight her smile at the joy of the shorter girl, admiring Catra's mane of hair that shook with her laughter, billowing from underneath the hat. 

"I don't think that'll happen, Adora," she assured her as she started leading her to a wall of supplies, handing Adora an apron and grabbing one for herself. "So, you volunteering for your graduation requirements?" Catra asked as she put her apron on and began tying it in the back.

"Well, kind of, I mean... I already did my required hours, but I like to help out. Plus, it also looks good on applications," she admitted while tying her own apron.

"Wow, you really are a goody two shoes, huh?" Catra teased, earning a dirty look from her companion. "Sorry, truce my bad," she put her hands up in defense and the two were silent for a moment getting ready. "For what it's worth though, it's pretty cool that you help so much, people appreciate it, or whatever," Catra mumbled, but Adora caught it and smiled widely.

"What about you?" Adora asked as they headed to where everyone was setting up containers of food on a long table, following Catra's lead and picking up a tray of bread after her. "Are you doing this to look good for college?"

"Not really," she admitted. "I'm thinking of staying local, maybe taking a year off to work and earn some money. I don't really know what I want to pursue for my future, so it's kind of hard to pick where to go. I guess college isn't at the front of my mind right now," Catra explained as she set the bread down, Adora mimicking her.

"Really? That's surprising," Adora told the dark haired girl, looking at her while Catra scrunched her eyebrows up adorably in confusion.

"Why?"

"Well, I mean, you're Catra. You're the one person in the entire school who has everything together. Everyone looks up to you because you have it all down, no one knows how you do it. You're cool, calm, collected, and you somehow still have top grades, but no one ever sees you do your work," Adora informed her while Catra looked at her wide eyed and surprised.

"Hold on. You're telling me that everyone thinks _I'm_ the one person in the school who has their shit together?" Catra asked for confirmation.

"Basically, yeah," Adora admitted. She thought Catra had it all together, the girl was so calm and collected all the time. She was never stressed, always had her homework done, finished her tests early, reading some novel no one had ever heard of during her free time she wasn't sleeping, as well as looking effortlessly flawless while she did any of it. It was one of the main reasons she pissed Adora off for most of their lives. 

"Wow, who knew I could fool an entire student body?" she laughed, and Adora frowned. Catra noticed the girl's cute pout and felt her heart swell; she was in so deep already. "I have like... none of my shit together and am internally freaking out _all_ the time," she chuckled, which caused Adora to crack a smile.

"Who would've guessed, the infamous Catra isn't some kind of superhuman?" Adora teased.

"Hey! For all you know I could be a superhero and maybe that's what's stressing me out," Catra replied and Adora raised an eyebrow.

"Don't take this the wrong way Catra, but I see you as more of the villain type," Adora admitted, causing Catra to gasp.

"Wow, I am hurt you think so low of me. Not even a supervillain with the potential to turn to the side of good?" It was Catra's turn to pout at Adora.

"I suppose you _might_ be worthy of a redemption arc, just maybe," Adora teased.

"Eh, good enough. I'd probably be a way better supervillain because I only work in black," Catra deadpanned which caused Adora to burst into giggles. "Too many bright and flashy colors for the good guys, it's fucking tacky."

"Obviously," Adora agreed with a head nod while they moved to grab gloves; it was getting closer to ten. "Hmm, so supervillain Catra in a black spandex suit, I like the sound of that," she smirked, wondering where the flirty part of her was coming from, it was still Catra after all.

"When did it become spandex?" Catra raised an eyebrow, yellow and blue piercing through Adora. The blonde felt her mouth dry out and all of the heat rush to her face as Catra waited for a reply with amusement. Adora uselessly tried to remove the image of Catra in spandex from her mind, but her lesbian brain was not helping whatsoever. Before Catra could tease her anymore, they were interrupted.

"Stations, everyone!" Scorpia's voice called to all the workers. Adora could kiss Scorpia in gratitude while Catra was ready to strangle her best friend for interrupting. The two finally separated with red cheeks and quickly headed to serve food as people filed in.

Adora and Catra spent around an hour serving people who had come in, the two working well as a team and keeping up the playful banter throughout it all. Adora found that she enjoyed Catra's company and personality, a part of her feeling regret over hating the other girl for so long. Then again, she always assumed Catra wanted nothing to do with her besides bothering her. Adora was also thoroughly intimidated by her. But seeing her so gentle and kind with the individuals and families they served, Adora learned that Catra was actually a huge sweetheart. Also, from the way that Catra snorted at Adora's awful jokes and made some of her own, she learned that Catra was also more of a dork than Adora realized. It was safe to say her infatuation with Catra grew over the course of them serving meals to those who came through.

After their hour of serving and people began filing out of the food distribution area, Adora noticed that many of the other volunteers were signing out with Scorpia while the rest were cleaning up. She looked to Catra in confusion who took notice right away and filled her in.

"Most of the volunteers like to come, serve food for an hour then leave," she explained. "It gives them their warm fuzzy feeling bullshit, or fills up their service hours, or whatever they fucking need, while the rest of the volunteers do all of the clean up and prep work for the next meal," Catra ended with a slight growl, her nails digging into her palms.

"Oh," Adora said and stood there for a moment, then quickly helped Catra clean up the empty food containers. Catra looked at the taller girl in surprise, wondering why she was staying.

"Adora," Catra sighed, "you don't have to stay, no one's going to get mad at you, you'll still get it written off. I know I got a little irritated about it, but that's just because we have so many pricks who are faking it. I know you're the real deal," she mumbled the last part, looking at the ground. 

"But there's more work to do, so I'm going to help," Adora replied like it was as simple as picking out what shirt to wear, something Catra knew was very simple for Adora with her limited wardrobe. Without another word, the football player took the dirty containers back to the kitchen and Catra watched the girl go, immobilized by the warmth spreading through her chest. 

"You're staring," Scorpia chuckled from behind her, and she turned around to the older girl with a glare.

"You set me up!" Catra hissed at her and she lifted her hands in defense.

"Aww come on, Wildcat, I know you've been into her forever now, I was just doing you a solid," she chuckled and Catra huffed. "You know I've been wanting you guys to get together since you and I became friends. I mean, come on, Catra, there's no way your perfect match could be anyone else. There was one other person on the field that day I got hurt, and I can only see you with someone who cares as much as you,"she went on and Catra's cheeks flushed.

"The more time I spend with her the bigger of a crush I get on her," Catra admitted to her taller friend.

"Well, no duh! You two are just too darn cute together. Oh boy, this is so exciting." She beamed and pulled Catra into a bone crushing off-the-ground hug. 

"Thank...you...Scorpia," Catra wheezed. "Please...my ribs."

"Oops! Sorry about that!" Scorpia quickly released the smaller girl and Catra's feet reunited with the floor. "Anyway, I gotta go finish up some director stuff but I will see you later, have fun!" Scorpia winked and headed off. Catra said goodbye and remained static, processing how much wonderful time she just spent with Adora without being a dickwad.

"You good, Catra?" Adora's voice broke into her thoughts.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm all good." Catra laughed a bit nervously and rubbed the back of her neck, quickly picking up more dirty pots and utensils to bring into the back. 

"Alright, dork," Adora laughed, picking up the rest of the kitchenware that Catra couldn't. "So, you and Scorpia know each other?" she asked.

"Yeah, we got close when she was still at our school," Catra said and Adora nodded.

"She was a senior when we were sophomores, we met through a mutual friend and after she got injured in football we started to hang out a lot more," Catra explained and Adora nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, I remember that night she broke her ankle, it was so scary. I'm so proud of how she recovered though, and I'm glad you were able to be there for her as a friend," Adora said genuinely.

"Eh, I'm not all that great. I mean, I'm kinda the reason we ever had to work here in the first place," Catra admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she began, "with Scorpia out of commission from football I decided that she needed to experience the medical benefits of marijuana. Unfortunately, at that time, my normal dealer had stopped selling, and being young and dumb I sought it in the dumbest fucking way," Catra chuckled as she turned on the water to begin washing the dishes, her and Adora grabbing gloves.

"You got Scorpia high?" she asked and Catra nodded.

"Eventually, but not on my first try. See, when I found a new weed hookup, it was this person at our school, Double Trouble, and honestly I should have known by the fact that they wanted to be called Double Trouble that things were sketchy. Needless to say, Double Trouble sold us the weed at school, insisting it was safe which resulted in Scorpia and I getting caught, but Double trouble mysteriously disappeared." Adora listened intently to the story, wondering how close Scorpia and Catra were. Did the two of them ever date? Were they dating? Adora shook the thought off and focused on scrubbing pots.

"So the two of us got caught, and when we did, I thought we were done for. Like going to get expelled done for, but it turned out that Vice Principal Weaver who usually does discipline, was gone for the week. And Principal Hordak didn't want to deal with expelling anyone, or any stressful shit for that matter because he only cares about the science department. So he pulls the two of us into his office, the weed is confiscated, and he told us we wouldn't get expelled if we each completed twenty hours of community service within the semester, then screamed at us to get out and if he saw our faces again we were expelled."

"That's how Scorpia and I ended up here, but with her messed up ankle she had to find a job that didn't require standing for long periods of time. So Scorpia started off doing a lot of numbers and paperwork, fell in love with it and well now she basically runs all of the volunteer operations here," Catra finished and Adora smiled at the girl, completely in adoration of how amazing she and her friend were.

"Wow, that's incredible, you must really like serving here," Adora said and the brunette girl nodded in return as she rinsed suds off of a pot. She didn't know why she was sharing so much with Adora, but it was a pleasant change to the usual bickering.

"I love it. These people are so amazing, and I've learned so much. I met another really good friend of mine, Entrapta, through serving here. She was our age and coming to eat about every other weekend for a few months. Scorpia and I were way closer and we started noticing how she was coming on and off. She stuck out to us, always had a bunch of old phones and laptops in her backpack she would tinker with. We decided we wanted to get to know this girl, so Scorpia and I being the hooligans we were, invited the girl to get to know us in the best way we could think of," Catra chuckled and Adora's eyes widened.

"You invited a random stranger to get high with you?!" Adora exclaimed and Catra laughed loudly at her expression, God that girl was too damn cute for Catra to handle.

"Bet your hot ass we did," Catra smirked, trying not to get caught up on the flirty comment she had just dropped while Adora's cheeks warmed. "She was completely down, so we took Entrapta out to Scorpia's car and she eventually told us her story. Her home life was shitty and she had run away, all the way from fucking New York, we had no clue how or why she did it, her only response was that she hated the cold," Catra shrugged with a chuckle while Adora listened, enthralled by everything she was learning about Catra's life.

"She had a few freelancing gigs. She would fix people's phone and computer screens, but obviously it wasn't a steady income. By that time, Scorpia had graduated and all her free time was going into volunteering at the shelter, working, and football. So that night, stoned out of our minds in this very parking lot, she offered Entrapta a place to live."

"No way," Adora whispered, completely in awe.

"I couldn't believe it either, hell Entrapta sure couldn't, but Scorpia insisted she needed a roommate. So that night she brought her home and they've been roommates ever since. Entrapta can fix like anything and she's done a ton of repairs on Scorpia's place and no one has to worry about a good mechanic. The two are great roommates," Catra explained, wanting to say something else but leaving it there.

"God, that's so incredible Catra. You're so incredible," Adora said softly, and clapped her hand over her mouth, but seeing Catra's sincere expression caused Adora to drop her hand. Catra blushing profusely as Adora continued, "I just, I can't comprehend how much all of this means to you. And that's just such a beautiful thing you know? You have this thing...this cause, that you're so passionate and on fire for. And some people, they go their entire lives never finding that fire or that passion, but seeing you interact with these people, seeing you put your entire heart into all of the work you do for every part of this; seeing the passion in your love for your friends, that's unmatched Catra. I don't think I've ever met someone who had this like you do," Adora told the girl honestly, speaking through the embarrassment and blood rushing to her head.

Catra stood in shock for a moment, processing everything Adora had said to her. No one had ever spoken about her in that way before, she never had her passion or work acknowledged really, and definitely never admired or described like Adora just did.

"Thanks, Adora," Catra said just as softly to the girl in front of her, trying to portray all of her gratefulness, mad that she couldn't return the favor and shower Adora in the beautiful words she deserved to hear.

"You're welcome, Catra," Adora smiled brightly. "But really, you shouldn't thank me for being honest. All I did was notice something and speak on it," she said simply, finishing up the dishes they were washing.

Catra took a moment to stare at the breathtaking profile of the girl who had just gotten even more attractive than Catra ever thought possible. She tried to figure out what Adora's motives were, what the girl stood for, hell anything about the girl. Despite being around Adora all these years, there was still barely anything she knew about her.

Adora was an observant viewer of character, and she could tell people things about themselves that they were unaware of. In the course of not even a full day yet, Adora had already figured out so much of the person that Catra was; it was terrifying and disheartening to Catra that one day of her trying to let down her walls resulted in such a great time with Adora. She couldn't fight off the pang of regret that shot through her body.

Meanwhile, Adora stood in front of her, seemingly the most readable person at Bright Moon High, and Catra couldn't provide any insight on who she truly was. With a frown, Catra realized that needed to change, this girl was too special to not know. Catra needed to get the fuck over herself, woman up, and actually get to know this incredible girl before she lost the chance forever.

"Hey, Adora?" Catra asked, turning from the pan she was scrubbing.

"Hm?"

"You ever taken bong rips before?"


	6. Burgers and Bong Rips

After agreeing to go back to Scorpia's place with Catra, Adora worked with the older girl the rest of the afternoon. Adora had no idea what compelled her to agree to go smoke with the group. Being on the football team meant that if Coach decided to drug test her she would be screwed, but honestly she wasn't worried this time; he only tested with injuries, and in the past some other players who smoked more frequently managed to mysteriously pass their drug test.

Excitement for later left Adora abuzz with anticipation throughout the remainder of their work, the two worked all the way to dinner prep, taking a few breaks themselves. Adora also noticed that there were only five other volunteers who remained the entire day, two of them being Catra and Scorpia. Once they finished prepping for dinner, Scorpia approached the pair.

"Hey Catra, we got a huge wave of volunteers who are coming in for dinner, some church group or something, so you can clock out or go use my car to get food or something while I finish up here," she informed her and Catra grinned.

"Sweet," Catra beamed. "Oh, and by the way, Adora is going to join us for the night if that's cool with you? She can drive so we can head over now and go see Entrapta?" Catra asked. "I can probably whip up some food for us and something for you, if you want."

"I'm gonna grab a bite on my way, you just feed yourselves," Scorpia waved them off. "Is Adora spending the night as well?" she asked, looking at the blonde.

"Uh, I wasn't really planning on it...?" Catra replied, shooting a subtle glare at her muscular friend.

"Let's just play it by ear, eh?" Scorpia grinned and patted her on the shoulder with a resounding clap before as she addressed Adora. "You did really good today Adora, I hope you become a consistent volunteer, we need less of these posers." She winked at her and Adora giggled.

"I think I'm going to be around a bit," Adora assured her, causing Scorpia to beam brightly and Catra to hide her own excitement at the blonde's words.

"Great! Catra and I will love seeing more of you, especially Catra," she emphasized to Adora with an unsubtle elbow to her side, causing both girls' cheeks to flush. Catra shoved the older girl and grabbed Adora's hand, quickly pulling her towards the door while tugging the apron off.

"Bye Scorpia! See you later!" she called to the volunteer coordinator as she dragged a dazed Adora who tugged off her own apron then set it in the same pile as Catra did.

"Sorry about Scorp," Catra apologized when she took Adora outside, still holding onto her hand which occupied Adora's brain too much for her to think of anything else.

"Huh? What?" Adora snapped out of her stupor and looked up to meet amused mismatched eyes.

"Nothing." Catra chuckled, "Where's your car?" She asked and Adora led the smaller girl through the parking lot to her car. The two got inside and Adora pulled out of the parking lot while Catra provided her with the area Scorpia's house was in. Once headed in the direction, the two slipped back into conversation.

"So," Catra began, changing the subject from Adora spending the night, "you and the Bright Moon Wildcat huh?" Catra asked. She couldn't resist finding out Adora's thoughts on the whole situation.

"Oh, God," Adora muttered, cheeks growing even redder. "How do you know about that?"

"Everyone knows about the most popular couple in school. I've known you forever, I think I would know if you were dating a sentient fur suit," she explained with an eye roll.

"Right, sorry, I guess I just assumed you never paid that much attention to me or what I was doing, just how to tease me about it," Adora admitted, insecurity leaking through her words. Catra felt her chest tighten at the blonde's confession and also felt like the world's biggest dick. Just a nasty, huge, veiny, pulsing dick.

"I've always paid attention to you, Adora," was all Catra could offer her in comfort, but it was something. The driver's head glanced to her passenger quickly at her words, but Catra had her eyes glued on the road, her dark cheeks seeming to be darker than usual.

"Oh," Adora whispered softly, eyes glueing themselves back to the road, her own cheeks heating up to the point she was afraid Catra would see. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, but strangely enough not uncomfortable.

"This house is so cute," Adora smiled, looking at the beige house and small yard as they finally reached their destination.

"Make sure to mention that to Scorpia when she gets home, she's been saving up for this place forever and is really proud of it," Catra instructed and Adora nodded, getting out of the car. Catra led her to the front door where she knocked and leaned against the wall, looking out at the street. Adora took a moment to admire Catra and how unimposing she looked in the sunshine of the late afternoon. Her flannel sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, snapback resting easy on her brown unruly waves, she was stunning. Her eyes had so much light in them that Adora wanted to stare into them forever just so she could try to write down every color inside Catra's eyes. Her admiration of the other girl was luckily cut off by the front door opening.

"Catra!" A purple haired girl with huge pigtails exclaimed, raising her arms in greeting. She seemed to have some grease on her like she had been working on a car, sporting a tank top and overalls tied at the waist. Adora quickly noted that the other woman was significantly shorter than Catra, creating an endearing visual for the jock.

"What's up Entrapta?" Catra laughed.

"Nothing much, just waiting for you guys to show up, I actually cleaned for once," she announced proudly.

"Oh, shit, you must've been pretty bored," Catra replied, eyebrows raised.

"Kinda. I mean, there was an unstable experiment at the lab so I'm off for the next few days," Entrapta explained casually, looking at Catra then taking notice of the other person on the porch.

"Another lifeform, who is this?" Entrapta gasped, shoving Catra to the side to look at a flustered Adora.

"Uh, hey, I'm Adora..." she greeted, raising her hand up in a pathetic wave. Entrapta beamed at the football player and began grabbing Adora's arms, examining her muscles, poking her jaw, and examining Adora's back.

"You seem to be quite physically impressive," Entrapta concluded, ending her probing to turn back to Catra. "Is this the person you like? Are you dating now and that's why she's here?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Catra hurriedly denied.

"Oh! Is she available for experiments still?" Entrapta grinned.

"Um, maybe?" Adora replied, becoming amused by the excited purple haired woman.

"Wonderful! Can't wait, Adora, it's a date!" Entrapta squealed and clapped her hands excitedly.

"Oh _hell_ no, Entrapta," Catra hissed out and ushered them all inside to end the conversation. Entrapta immediately gave Adora a tour of the three bedroom house, throwing in her own opinions on the structural integrity and things she had modified within the rooms. Adora realized quickly however, that they forgot one closed door on the tour, but she figured it might have been an office or unused room between the two women.

Catra followed them, silently brooding at the fact that Entrapta immediately took Adora's attention, but grateful for the purple haired girl not showing off what was behind the closed door: Catra's room. She wasn't quite ready for Adora to know about that. 

It was hard to believe this was the girl she had tormented for so long because she never knew how to ask her to be friends, and then developed a dumb crush on which made things worse. The darker girl couldn't stop kicking herself mentally for being such an idiot all these years, but maybe she could finally fix things. Maybe.

By the end of the tour Adora was in love with Scorpia's home and gushed about everything Entrapta had shown them. The trio made their way back to the living room that held a couch and loveseat, with an ottoman in the middle so everyone could prop their feet. Entrapta quickly jumped on the couch and flopped longways, earning a glare from Catra who sat on Entrapta's feet which resulted in some bickering and kicking that Adora amusedly watched.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Adora asked the two.

"Well, I need to make us some food," Catra began, her and Entrapta having finally settled with Entrapta's feet being on Catra's lap. Before she could continue her couch partner interrupted.

"Ooh, can you make something tiny? Pleeeeease?" she begged, and Catra groaned.

"Yeah, do you want those tiny western sliders?"

"Yes, yes please!" Entrapta squealed and clapped once more. Catra shook her head with a smile as she stood up.

"Hope you don't mind veggie patties, Ms. Football Player." She smirked and headed to the kitchen, Adora following as Entrapta turned on the television.

"Those are totally fine, can I help you cook at all?" Adora offered with a smile that almost made Catra melt. She kept it together by opening the freezer to pull out the small tray of individual frozen veggie patty sliders her and Scorpia made every week for food prep.

"Scorpia does homemade veggie patties?" Adora asked, starting to wonder how Catra was so familiar with someone else's house, but realized she must have spent a lot of time here.

"Yeah, she works a lot, but likes to still eat non-processed meals, so she does a lot of food prep." Catra explained, grabbing the other ingredients needed. She directed Adora to grab an onion and Chef's knife and gave her cutting directions. While Adora worked on the task given to her, Catra floated effortlessly around the kitchen to get everything else prepared.

"Alright, I got all these onion rounds, what now?" Adora asked, turning to notice that Catra had set up breading and a pan heating with oil.

"Now we bread them up and fry them. Usually Scorpia has these pre done cause Entrapta loves them, but looks like they had a lot this week. They won't be perfect, but they'll still be hella good," Catra half lied; she was the one who got really high the other day and made all the onion rings.

"Woah, that's so cool, I've never done homemade onion rings, or patties!" Adora beamed, quickly picking up the breading process by following Catra's lead. Soon the two had a small mess of flour and crumbs matching grins on their faces.

"I'll fry them, just watch out cause it can get a little splashy," Catra warned as she started frying up the onions. The burgers were being cooked in a pan next to the onions, Catra explaining they didn't need much time cause meat cooks differently. Adora felt a little stupid for that one, but for once Catra didn't tease her about not knowing something; instead she assured the other woman a lot of people didn't realize the difference in cooking times.

"Alright, the patties are just about done, pass me the cheese," Catra instructed, holding out her hand for Adora to hand her the plate of sliced cheese. She carefully placed each piece on the sliders with impressive speed. "Now can you just set up the buns?" Catra glanced at Adora with a soft smile the blonde was completely unprepared for. No bite, no teasing, no malice, and none of the usual defenses. Instead it was pure bliss, warmth Adora had never felt flooding through her veins.

"Adora?" Catra asked with a tilt of her head, the smile still on her face, eyes bright.

"Right, yes, I will do that right now, yes, the buns, I will set them up. For you. The buns." Adora quickly jumped into action to dress the buns for the patties. Catra placed each slider on its bun with her spatula, having Adora place an onion ring on each after her. They finished with barbecue sauce and some fake bacon that Catra explained was one of the harder things to make homemade.

Finally the sliders were finished and when Adora turned to bring them to the table, she was shocked to find Entrapta already sitting there.

"Oh, hey!" Adora gasped and the purple haired woman beamed.

"Let's eat those adorable tiny burgers!" Entrapta declared and the blonde placed the plate on the table, taking her own seat. Catra stepped out of the kitchen holding plates, passed them out to each woman and took her own seat across from Adora.

"Dig in," she announced, but Entrapta had already eaten one of her sliders. With a chuckle Adora took a bite of the burger and was pleasantly surprised by how much it tasted like a real burger.

"Good, huh?" Catra grinned, waiting for Adora before she ate her own. Nerves vibrated through her, wondering what Adora thought of it.

"Wow, this is amazing!" The blonde began ravenously devouring her meal. Catra chuckled at the girl, but felt pride radiate throughout at Adora enjoying her cooking. The trio destroyed the plate of sliders in quick time, Catra and Adora both realizing how hungry they were from a day of work.

After the meal Entrapta cleared the table and headed to clean up in the kitchen, it seemed this routine was effortless for them, like they did it every day. Adora felt relief that Catra had such good people in her life, it made her feel better than the thought of Catra being alone.

"Scorpia should be home soon, so we can go chill on the couch," the brunette informed Adora, heading to the living room with a glance over her shoulder to the football player before continuing. Adora followed in stride.

"So then we'll smoke when she gets back?"

"Yeah, then we usually play like Mario Kart or Mario Party if you like those."

Entrapta burst into the living room, eyes alight. "Holy shit! We have four people now! This is perfect!" she exclaimed, causing Adora to jump, but Catra to not even flinch. She was accustomed to Entrapta's entrances at this point.

"You're right, we can play without the computer," Catra mused, Entrapta jumping to sit beside her on the couch.

"You did all the dishes?" Adora asked in awe.

"Entrapta has cleaning down to a science," Catra explained. "She's figured out the fastest, most effective, and most energy efficient way to clean the kitchen."

"Plus, I made a solar powered sonic sponge that just involves a motor, some small panels, and obviously a locking mechanism to change out the sponge. I can crush even the toughest stains in no time," the short woman declared triumphantly.

"Sounds impressive," Adora nodded.

"Thank you, most of my ideas are impressive if I say so myself," Entrapta stated.

Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened to reveal Scorpia. "Friends! I have returned, so it is time for Saturday night Super Pal Trio hangout to begin!" she declared, causing Catra and Entrapta to spring into immediate unspoken action. Catra headed to the kitchen so Adora followed her with acceptance that this was how it would be. Catra handed her a pitcher of pink lemonade from the fridge and then she headed to grab glasses. Adora followed Scorpia out the back door into the small, but well tended to yard. There was a classic porch swing and a picnic table on their back deck, and a beautiful array of flowers and vegetables spread throughout. The biodiversity of the yard was quite impressive.

"Oh my God, Scorpia, your backyard is so pretty! I'm in love," Adora gushed, setting the pitcher of lemonade on the table.

"Well, thank you, I worked hard on it, lots of gardening. I've just always loved flowers, but I've never been very delicate so it was a lesson in patience," she smiled. "We found the picnic table and porch swing by looking around at second hand stores, which is why one of the cushions on the swing is blue. Entrapta and I fixed this place up last year and I'm really excited that everything is coming together," she explained as she began pointing out the different types of flowers she had in her yard. Adora couldn't help but think about how Perfuma would absolutely love this garden.

"You guys are really amazing, and this home is amazing!" Adora complimented as Catra came out, setting the cups and some snacks down on the table and sitting by Adora, pouring everyone a glass without a word. Adora smiled sweetly at the girl's gesture and took the glass, something that didn't go unnoticed by a smirking Scorpia as she grabbed her own.

"Oh, stop it, please, I couldn't do it without these great girls!" Scorpia beamed, causing Catra to mumble something and take a drink of her lemonade.

The back door opened again, revealing a grinning Entrapta with a bong in one hand and a mason jar filled with weed in the other.

"Alright, I have retrieved the marijuana," Entrapta announced, causing Scorpia to cheer and Catra to smile. She came to the table and set the glass piece down along with the jar of weed then headed back inside to grab water to fill the bong with.

"Are you excited to smoke with us?" Scorpia asked Adora, who was distracted by Catra pulling a grinder from her pocket to start breaking up the weed. The lithe woman started turning the grinder after loading it from the jar before deftly packing the bowl. Adora gulped, finding it strangely attractive how skilled Catra was at dealing with weed. "Few people are invited to participate in this, so it's an honor," Scorpia continued, causing Adora to snap her head towards the other football player.

"Oh, wow, really? Well, thank you so much, I'm really excited," Adora admitted. Catra finished packing the bowl and placed it back in the bong, while Entrapta returned with a reusable purple water bottle, pouring part of it into the bong.

"Now, I do believe our guest should be granted first hit. All in favor?" Entrapta said in a formal tone, black lighter in hand. Scorpia and Catra raised their hands, saying 'aye' in sync, causing Adora's face to redden.

"Oh, really, guys... you don't have to do that, I'm probably just going to mess it up or something." Adora grinned sheepishly, she had never smoked out of a bong before and didn't want to embarrass herself.

"Nonsense, Adora," Catra said softly with a smile, causing Adora's heart to swell at the nickname. "Have you smoked from a bong before?" she asked just as gently, and Adora shook her head no in reply, face still red. "Okay, I'll light it and pull it for you, all you gotta do is suck, okay?" Catra confirmed and Adora nodded, trying not to watch Catra's lips as she said that.

"Alright, hand me that lighter Entrapta," Catra said, and Entrapta handed her the black lighter. She turned herself so she was straddling the bench and facing Adora, placing the bong between them. Catra tilted the stem towards Adora's mouth and Adora held onto it.

"Now, just place your lips on there and when I start lighting you start sucking," Catra instructed and Adora nodded. She lit the lighter then touched it to the bowl piece, causing smoke to bubble inside of the bong and Adora began to suck. Catra only lit it for a short time then pulled the piece while Adora continued sucking. Once she cleared the piece of smoke, she pulled away and tried to hold it in, but failed and broke into a coughing fit.

"Oh, fuck," Adora coughed while everyone laughed.

"Happens to the best of us," Scorpia consoled her.

"Hey, I've seen _way_ worse first rips," Catra grinned. "That was good for your first time, you cleared your pull which is great. Most people leave a lot of smoke in the stem their first time," the other woman noted with an impressed tone.

"Thanks," Adora wheezed out and coughed a few more times.

"Here, I know how to help," Catra told her, taking the bong from the younger girl. She touched it to her own lips while Adora watched, wondering what she meant. Catra lit the piece and began to inhale, leaving it lit much longer than Adora. Once she pulled the piece and cleared the smoke, she pulled her lips away and held in, passing the piece to Scorpia. Adora was at a loss for words; Catra taking bong rips had to be the hottest thing she had ever witnessed.

While she was left in her Catra induced daze, the brunette leaned towards Adora, gesturing for her to lean forward as well with a finger. Adora followed her direction, leaning into the older girl, their faces inches apart and Adora's bright red at their proximity. She wondered what Catra wanted, but stopped as the other girl slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke towards Adora's mouth. Quickly catching on, Adora inhaled the smoke, still flustered by the intimacy of it all.

"Now you can get more high with less work," Catra husked out, multi-colored eyes playful, causing Adora to gulp.

It was going to be a long night. 


	7. High, Adora

"You ever wonder why leaves kinda just...you know?" Adora asked no one in particular. Her head was on Catra's thighs, hair spread out. The other three were amused by how high she was, however they weren't in much better of a state. After a few hits Adora was gone and stared at the sunset in the same position while the other three went through a couple bowls. Once they finished smoking they caught the end of the sunset, Catra absentmindedly allowing her hand to trail lazily up and down Adora's back while Adora watched the sunset contentedly. Finally they ended up back inside, Catra and Adora taking up the couch, and Entrapta and Scorpia lounged on the loveseat.

"Yeah, I know," Entrapta bobbed her head up and down while Catra moved to play with Adora's hair again, enthralled by the way it felt like silk running through her fingertips. Catra partially closed her eyes, content to simply feel the girl's hair and remain in that moment forever. Adora was completely faded; she had forgotten there were other people in the room, focusing instead on her own train of thought. However, this train took many turns and went down many paths and thinking of the train only confused Adora more.

"Hey, Adora..." Catra said gently. Adora's blue eyes refocused on Catra's, her blue and amber irises surrounded by the pink tint of the rest of her eye, it was stunning.

"Hmmm?" Adora hummed to the older girl, lazy smile still plastered on her face.

"Nothing," Catra shrugged with a grin, staring back at the television where Scorpia had turned some cartoon on, but Adora remained staring at the beautiful girl. How could people even breathe being in the same room as Catra? How was Adora still alive right then? She wondered how she hadn't died yet because she was positive in that moment that Catra was a goddess.

"A goddess..." Adora whispered softly, causing Catra to glance down again at the muscular girl in her lap.

"What was that?" Catra asked with a laugh.

"Mmmmm," Adora hummed in reply causing Catra to smile warmly and look back at the television. She brought her hand back to Adora's head to continue her gentle stroking.

"So, are we still on for Mario Party?" Entrapta asked from the loveseat, causing everyone in the room to pause, remembering plans to play the game earlier.

"Yeah!" Scorpia beamed, changing the channel of the tv and dashing towards it to turn the game on. Adora groaned and curled into a ball against Catra, causing the upright woman to look back down.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Catra asked.

"I don't wanna move. My head is too heavy to lift up," Adora complained. Catra smiled stupidly at the girl's cuteness, not that she could ever admit how much of a sap she was for Adora out loud.

"Then just play like that, dork," Catra suggested, causing Adora to turn back over and look at Catra with wide eyes.

"Woah! That's an incredible idea!" Adora announced, a huge smile filled with wonder on her face.

"Well, duh," Catra replied, breaking out into laughter at the way Adora looked at her like she was a genius.

"Here are your controllers," Scorpia instructed, handing a controller to each of the girls. Adora turned herself over on her opposite side of Catra's lap so she was facing the game. Catra couldn't help but wonder if the girl was uncomfortable, but since neither mentioned it Catra figured she was fine.

The game began with Catra choosing Wario, Scorpia choosing Daisy, Entrapta choosing Waluigi, and Adora picking Donkey Kong. As soon as they reached the actual gameplay, everyone was doing horribly. Well, everyone except for Adora. For some reason, in her high state, Adora was winning each of the mini games with incredible precision and accuracy. She was at each of the stars before anyone else in the room, everyone was in awe of the sideways girl who was kicking ass at Mario Party.

"Woah, Adora, when did you become a Mario Party expert?" Catra asked as they lost another mini game to Adora.

"I dunno, I think I can see the computer movements before they happen and like use super fast processing and then uhh win your asses," Adora tried to explain, the others breaking out into chuckles over her response.

Adora ignored them and returned to focusing on the game, executing her turn perfectly. When the others finally regained their bearings they picked up their controllers to resume getting their asses kicked by Adora. Once they thoroughly lost at Mario party, Catra suggested changing the game and no one cared enough to disagree.

Catra gently removed Adora's head off of her lap while the girl whined in protest. She patted the girl's head then hopped up to go put Mario Kart in instead. Catra was incredible at high Mario Kart, and the competitive part of her wanted to get revenge for her loss despite her altered state of mind.

After turning the game on, Catra returned to the couch and sat next to Adora who finally sat up. Once Catra sat down though, Adora returned to leaning on the older girl, enjoying her warmth and stability. Being less high than Adora, Catra was still aware that this was her long time crush leaning on her and who had been flirty with her the entire day, she started to think she might just have a chance. Well, if it wasn't for the giant mascot secret standing in the way as well.

Before Catra could ponder it any longer, Adora was pressing the start button on Catra's controller so they could pick characters. With everyone picking the same characters as before, they quickly started the game.

"Catra, you only put in Mario Kart cause you're good at it," Entrapta observed, her car in last place.

"What? I wouldn't do that," Catra said as honestly as she could, currently in first place.

"You're just mad about Adora winning Mario...whatever we played before," Scorpia added.

"Am not!" Catra frowned. She glanced at Adora who was completely immersed in the game, tongue sticking out in concentration, glazed eyes narrowed so much that they almost looked closed. Catra got distracted by her utter adorableness and only snapped back forward when she heard gasps from Entrapta and Scorpia.

"Adora is in first! Adora is in first!" Entrapta exclaimed, having forgotten about her own controller along with Scorpia. The two were completely immersed in the last lap between Catra and Adora with the blonde in first.

"Fuck," Catra cursed, quickly getting back into the zone, determined to keep her title as high Mario Kart champion. However, Adora was proving to be quite the adversary; she executed her turns with no room for cutting in, leaving banana peels for Catra to slip on behind her. The girl was like a professional race car driver going down rainbow road as a giant ape.

The end of the race approached, Catra still in second trying with everything she had to pull in front of Adora, but the other girl gave her no opening, and so Catra crossed the finish line in second place.

"No way!" Scorpia cheered. "Adora dethroned Catra! Queen Adora! Ruler of Mario Kart!"

"All hail the queen!" Entrapta announced. Catra crossed her arms, setting her controller down in disbelief. There was _no_ way she could have lost. But, staring at the screen, sure enough Donkey Kong was in first place with Yoshi in second.

"So, Adora, what will your first act be as queen?" Scorpia asked and the girl contemplated the question for a while.

"Well, we need some definite healthcare reforms, and I'm going to need to put our food supply and surpluses into consideration to help feed the hungry, as well as work on our immigration systems, I'm thinking we would use like bears to pull carts of people over, and it would help save on gas. But before that, I shall take a nap," Adora announced and with that sunk back down so her head was once again on Catra's lap and her legs on the couch.

The other two laughed while Catra's cheeks colored for the umpteenth time that night alone, and she resumed her earlier activity of stroking Adora's hair.

"I'm really glad you invited her Catra," Scorpia told her friend, smiling at the two fondly. She noticed how wrapped up the girls were in each other already, and it had only been a day. Scorpia felt hopeful for the two, reminiscing on her own crush she had on Catra for about a month when they first became friends. Then she saw how obsessed she was with the blonde.

"Me, too," Entrapta agreed.

"Me, three," Catra chuckled, smiling fondly at the girl who was already practically asleep in her lap.

"You're amazing..." Adora whispered lazily to the older girl, eyes closed and lips parted in a soft smile. Catra smiled warmly at the stoned girl, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face.

"Take a nap, idiot," she chuckled and Adora simply hummed in reply, quickly drifting off to sleep.

"Well, she sure did get high," Scorpia chuckled.

"It's been a long time since we've had someone with such a low tolerance," Entrapta noted. "I found her company to be enjoyable, I think you should invite her over more."

"You guys really want her to come over more?" Catra asked, trying to hide her excitement. Catra had only ever introduced them to Bow, not that she had any other friends, but still it was a big deal.

"Well, yeah, she's really cool, and it's fun watching you get all gushy and mushy and stuff," Scorpia giggled causing Catra to glare at her and glance down at Adora.

"Dude! She's right here, calm yourself," Catra hissed and Scorpia held her hands up defensively.

"Okay, okay! Sorry," she mumbled and Entrapta laughed.

"Seriously though, Catra, bring her around more," Entrapta winked at her dark haired friend and Catra nodded. She still had her senior year with Adora, and she knew for a fact that this would be the year things would change.

The trio played a few more games while Adora remained sleeping. She slept through their yelling, their laughter, and a heated argument between Entrapta and Scorpia over whether they should order a five pound bag of sour gummy worms or a one pound bag of Lucky Charms marshmallows online. They settled by deciding to order both.

None of those interactions woke up Adora, instead when Scorpia started heating up some mozzarella sticks in the oven, the sleeping girl instantly awoke and sat up.

"Do I smell what I think I smell?" she asked, hair a bit messy and eyes still glazed over from a mix of sleep and THC.

"Yup," Catra replied, grinning at the blue eyed girl's cuteness.

"Oh my God, I fucking love mozzarella sticks," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes and yawning, "Can I have some?"

"Of course," Catra laughed.

"This day just keeps getting better and better," Adora beamed and Catra pulled her up to lead her to the kitchen. She glanced at Adora and started chuckling again.

"What?" Adora frowned.

"Your eyes are so red," Catra answered and Adora didn't look surprised.

"Yeah, Satan made them red," she explained and Catra laughed harder.

"He did?"

"Yup. Smoking the devil's lettuce, being an outstanding homosexual, just so much sin in my body so Satan had to make my eyes red," she elaborated like Catra should have known these things.

"Oh my god, you're definitely getting high with us more often," Catra said between laughs. "Sit down, I'll get you some water," Catra instructed and with another hum, Adora sat at the table.

Catra went into the kitchen to find Entrapta and Scorpia both staring intensely at the oven, every time the timer would go down a number, they cheered a bit and then returned to staring. Shaking her head, Catra grabbed a cup for herself and Adora, filling both of them with water. She returned to the table, handing Adora her cup and sitting beside her while sipping her own water.

"Catra?" Adora asked.

"Hm?"

"You're really good friends with Bow right?" Adora asked and Catra nodded, wondering why the girl was asking about her friend. "Like, you guys hang out a lot?"

"I mean a little, I guess," Catra answered, curiously looking at Adora who had her head on her hand and was looking at the wall. "We just have had a lot of dance classes together so we get along in that way."

"Does that mean you know who the mascot is?" Adora said, turning to look at Catra. Catra tried to hide the shock on her face, not expecting that question at all. She quickly tried to keep her composure and think of an answer to the question, her high brain not letting her do that as quick as she would like.

"Uh, nah. Bow takes that secretive Wildcat stuff really seriously," Catra shrugged, sipping her water. Adora seemed to accept her answer and nodded.

"I really want to know who it is," she admitted. "She's been flirting with me for like all of high school, and I'm just so curious, you know?"

"Wait, you know it's a she?" Catra frowned.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I probably wasn't supposed to mention that, but I figured out it was a girl," she nodded. "Which is a relief, knowing a creepy guy isn't in there trying to hit on me. Man, that would have been weird 'cause like... she's been flirting with me a _long_ time."

Catra nodded. "Yeah, that is a relief," she smiled fondly.

"I've just been wondering who this person has been for so long, and if it's some kind of joke or publicity stunt. And then sometimes I just wonder, why me? Why out of everyone in the school would this person choose _me_ of all people? And I get super scared sometimes because the flirting isn't always innocent and sometimes it feels so genuine, and I'm constantly scared one day the mask is going to come off and it's going to be some big elaborate practical joke..." Adora admitted, looking down at the table. After her confession, Catra felt awful having not known how insecure Adora was about the whole thing.

"But recently...especially this last week, I feel like there is definitely something more there. She's been extremely flirty, and after the game yesterday..." Adora trailed off blushing at the memory. "Sometimes I feel like I have a crush on her, is that stupid?" she asked Catra, who immediately shook her head.

"No no, it's not stupid at all, it's completely understandable. And I mean, who knows, she probably has a crush on you too, you're a pretty amazing girl," Catra told her honestly and the other girl's cheeks colored more.

"Thanks, Catra." She smiled warmly and Catra returned the smile. As the two girls sat there, staring and smiling at each other, Entrapta and Scorpia returned with triumphant cheers.

"We brought-a the mozzarella!" Scorpia announced, placing the pan of hot breaded cheese sticks on the table with a bottle of ranch, and warmed up marinara sauce on the side. Entrapta gave everyone a plate with commands to dig in, which they all did. Adora quickly piled her plate with mozzarella sticks, mood immediately changing with the fried cheese in front of her.

"Oh god, these are so good," Adora mumbled with a full mouth, some ranch on her chin already. Catra leaned over with a napkin, quickly wiping her face, causing Adora to give her a grateful smile.

"Thank you, our secret is we stare at them for the last ten minutes because sometimes you gotta grab them before the time is up," Entrapta explained, Scorpia nodding in agreement.

"Well, it's brilliant!" Adora announced, continuing to eat. Catra just watched the girl, wondering how they ended up in this situation at all, and if Adora could get any cuter. She soon remembered she had her own plate of mozzarella sticks and quickly started eating her own.

The quartet sat and talked in the kitchen for a while, laughing and talking about nothing in particular. Adora had some very awful puns, but the other three thought they were hilarious, especially Catra who was hit with huge fits of laughter each time Adora told a joke.

Finally, the mozzarella sticks were gone, and it was growing close to ten. Entrapta and Scorpia were practically asleep on the couch, falling over each other. Catra and Adora were having an in depth discussion on whether blue raspberry had any actual raspberry flavor to it, until Adora's phone vibrated. She reached into her pocket to get the device and her eyes widened.

"Oh shit, my mom wants me home in the next half hour!" Adora exclaimed, immediately entering panic mode. "Oh _shit_ , what if she knows I'm high, do I smell like weed? Are my eyes still red? How am I going to get home, oh fuck, oh fuck," she worried, eyes wide. Catra set a hand gently on her shoulder to try and comfort the girl.

"Hey, don't worry. I have a plan, okay? First I'm gonna get you some eye drops, and then I'll drive you back in your car while Scorpia follows us in hers. Your mom will never know," Catra assured the girl, the taller one nodding and trying to breathe easier.

"But I don't wanna inconvenience you guys you-"

"It's not an inconvenience, I swear. Now, come on." She held out her hand to the girl and pulled her up off the floor they had moved to. Catra led Adora to what Adora assumed was the guest bedroom and picked up eye drops off the dresser, handing them to Adora. "For your eyes," she instructed, and Adora quickly put the eye drops in. She didn't have time to look around the dark room, all she knew was that it was the one room Entrapta didn't show her.

Next, Catra dug through the dresser, pulling out a sweatshirt from a skate brand she liked called 'Horde'. They had a badass spiked H logo that Catra loved, and her good friends would always buy clothes from the brand, making sure they were all a size up. Catra liked her hoodies and jackets to be huge and cozy. It was a red hoodie with a darker red insignia and it was Catra's favorite to sleep in. She snatched her perfume off the dresser quickly, giving the sweater a quick spritz before passing it to Adora.

"Here. Put this on over your shirt, it'll mask any weed smell on your clothes, and if your mom asks just tell her you got cold," Catra said, Adora nodded and pulled the article of clothing on. Catra froze for a moment because she had never seen an article of her clothing look better than that instant. Adora on the other hand was freaking out because of how amazing it smelled, she couldn't fight the smile on her face because the scent on the sweater was so reassuring and familiar. She was almost sure she smelled it somewhere else before, but she couldn't think clearly enough to focus on it. It reminded her of the ocean early in the morning, crisp and fresh. 

"Looks good. Let's head out then, yeah?" Catra asked, finally coming to and Adora simply nodded with that familiar lazy grin on her face. Chuckling, Catra led them back to the main room.

"Scorp, get up! You gotta follow us back to Adora's house," Catra instructed and the woman on the couch groaned.

"Yup, no problem," she yawned, sitting up, her white hair going many different directions while Entrapta remained completely asleep. She stood up and shuffled to the door, picking up her car keys and shuffling straight out to her car. Adora and Catra both laughed and went to Adora's car, the grey blue-eyed beauty handing over her keys.

Catra opened the passenger side door for Adora who smiled warmly. "So chivalrous," she teased, causing Catra to pause for a moment. Adora simply sat in the seat and buckled up, saying nothing else on the matter. Catra quickly closed the door and jogged to the driver's side. She entered, adjusted the seat, and started the car.

"Alright, can you direct me to where you live?" Catra asked and Adora nodded.

"Yup, I'm near that McDonald's kinda by the school," she replied.

"I know exactly where that is, off we go," Catra announced, pulling out with Scorpia following behind them.

Adora turned on the radio, putting on some relaxed background music to drive at night to. It was all so surreal. Her high had basically worn off, but enough of it was still there for the colors and lights to be more gorgeous, for the music to sound better, however she knew even if she wasn't high, just being around Catra would be enough for anything to feel surreal. The two drove in silence, both enjoying the presence of their crushes, content smiles etched on both faces.

Eventually they arrived outside of Adora's house, the football player checked the time and was grateful she had ten minutes to spare. Catra turned off the car, handing the keys back to Adora.

"Thank you for everything today, Catra," Adora said sincerely. It had easily been her best day of Senior year so far.

"Of course, thank you for joining us. Everyone really liked having you," Catra replied.

"I'm so happy to hear that. Spending time with you guys was so amazing."

"I could say the same for you," Catra teased and Adora's cheeks flushed. She stepped out of the car, Catra following and going to Adora's side. The taller girl was playing with the sleeves of the sweater; even though it was still warm at night and a sweater wasn't necessary, both girls were happy Adora kept it on.

"Hey, um..." Adora began, looking down at her shoes, cheeks flushed. She took a deep breath and looked up to meet the captivating multi-colored eyes she was always enamored by.

"Yeah?" Catra asked, unable to fight her signature smirk growing on her face and eyebrow raising inquisitively.

"Could we hang out more?" Adora asked quickly and meekly, glancing away with cheeks still burning. Usually she was confident and outgoing, but Catra made that difficult. Plus she thought she hated this other woman until about twelve hours ago.

"I think I could pencil you in, dork," Catra teased once more because she was afraid her heart was going to pound out of her chest.

"Awesome! Great! Cool, sweet, I'll uh, I'll see you Monday!" She assured, holding out her hand to shake, then pausing and giving Catra a quick one armed side hug instead which Catra awkwardly reciprocated with an endearing smile. 

"Okay, yeah, bye Catra!" Adora said quickly, dashing inside her house, cheeks still aflame in embarrassment. Catra chuckled softly to herself, looking at the now closed front door Adora had run into so quickly. She couldn't wait to see that dumbass again.

With a warm smile, Catra walked over to Scorpia's car and got into the passenger seat, as soon as she entered her friend immediately noticed her mood.

"Oh! You're in love, congratulations," Scorpia gasped and Catra rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, we only hung out today. People don't fall in love in ten hours." Catra shook her head.

"Catra, you do realize that time is an illusion right? It's just this arbitrary thing we created to try and make life make a little more sense," Scorpia said and Catra glanced at the driver.

"What're you getting at?" She frowned in confusion.

"I'm saying that love doesn't have a timestamp, there isn't some certain amount of time it takes to fall in love with someone, you know? And you've been wrapped up in this girl since you first met her right?" she asked knowingly. "Like since you were kids?"

"Well, I mean yeah, but-"

"Do you believe in soulmates?" Scorpia interrupted, completely serious. Catra thought about it, did she? What was with the strange questions, was Scorpia still high?

"I'm not sure honestly..." She trailed off, wondering just what point Scorpia was making. She started the car and began driving, the radio off and just the empty nighttime roads stretching before them.

"Everything in this world comes from something else, at one point we were all just stars in the sky and stuff. And then those stars exploded, millions and millions of years ago, and like I said, time is an illusion so those stars are still exploding right now. So, we were all pieces of those billions of stars at some point, you follow?"

"Yeah," Catra nodded.

"Okay, and then each star exploded and pieces of them went on to become different things over billions of years. Fish, plants, dinosaurs, skies, clouds, all these different elements of the planet, you name it. Your piece of stardust could have been a banana-slug at one point, a cat, a tree, a sea slug on the ocean floor," she continued.

"What I'm saying is that each star didn't become just _one_ thing, it scattered itself and became so many different things, people, places, pieces of matter, throughout all of time and the universe. And I think, because these bonds are so powerful, that things derived from the same star, that stardust, it naturally wants to become whole again, to find the missing pieces of itself." Scorpia took a deep breath.

"Some bonds are too powerful to be coincidence. Life is too massive and expansive for coincidences, and that connection you have with Adora, Catra, I don't see any sign of a coincidence there. I see two pieces from the same star," she finished, leaving Catra speechless in the passenger seat.

"And I think you've felt the stardust in your soul calling for her's for a long time. You're finally answering that call, Catra, bringing the stars back."

With those words, they rode in silence the rest of the way, Catra staring out the window, and up at the night sky scattered with stars.


	8. Catra Agrees to Something Stupid

"You're in!" Bow cheered, clapping Catra on the back as they sat in the still empty school parking lot on Monday morning. It was a tradition of theirs to go early on Mondays and run through choreography for cheer routines just the two of them with the benefit of the mascot uniform. After practicing, they would run a couple laps around the track and then hop in the showers, the first one out had to go pick up breakfast and coffee, but the other paid. That day it was Catra who picked up (as usual) and Bow who paid. They were sitting in Catra's car and she had just finished telling Bow about the events that took place over the weekend.

"Oh my god, Bow, we hung out once! You're missing the point! I spent a _day_ not being a bitch to her!"

"Catra, you're kidding right? She's clearly into you, it means you're in!" Bow exclaimed and Catra winced.

"It's not that simple! I can't just take the mask off and be like, 'Oh hey, I'm the one who's had a crush on you this entire time, but I have been making fun of your our whole lives, and now we've hung out once so I think it's totally appropriate to reveal myself.'" Catra rolled her eyes and Bow sighed.

"Then what's your great plan?" Bow asked, wondering when Catra would get her head out of her ass and own up to her feelings.

"Well, I was going to try this whole interacting with her outside of the mascot costume thing, and hopefully build up a friendship. Then... see where it goes?" Catra shrugged.

"And your plans for the Wildcat?" Bow pointed out and Catra frowned, remembering how worried Adora was about the true identity of the Bright Moon Wildcat.

"Well, about that... I was thinking I should stop flirting with her as the Wildcat. It's not fair to Adora, and if I want her to like me for _me_ , I shouldn't be confusing her like that," Catra decided and Bow shook his head.

"I'm sorry Catra, but that can't happen."

"Wait, what? Why not?" Catra frowned.

"Look, everyone at this school loves the dynamic you have with Adora, if you start changing the way the mascot treats her, that's going to cause a lot of weird tensions. Adora and the Bright Moon Wildcat are the most famous couple at our school, everyone goes crazy for you two. Also, Adora is going to think it's really weird that whoever the person inside the suit is suddenly treating her differently. You're just going to confuse her even more," Bow explained. Catra sighed and sunk back in her seat, trying to figure out what to do.

"Catra, literally the best idea is to just tell her the truth. I'm sure the girl will understand, then you two can fall in love and be all gay, the end," Bow grinned.

"She wants to go to college far away anyway, it's not like we would last," Catra mumbled.

"So? Kyle goes to college across the country and you've gone to visit him anyway, it could just be like that," Bow pointed out and Catra shook her head.

"Whatever, Bow, I just want to focus on becoming friends with her and making up for how I've treated her in the past. Can you help me out with that?" Catra asked, turning to her friend who now had a mischievous smile on his face.

"I was wondering when you would ask. We're going to make Adora and Catra happen so quickly, everyone is going to wonder why they loved Adora and the Bright Moon Wildcat together in the first place," Bow announced and Catra laughed.

"Whatever you say, Bow."

"Holy shit, Adora! Next time you wake up early on a Saturday to go volunteer, sign _me_ up if I get to take bong rips with some hottie," Glimmer exclaimed, hitting Adora on the shoulder as the pair walked from her car towards the school.

"Glimmer, I couldn't get you out of bed on a Saturday before noon if the world was ending," Adora responded, rolling her eyes, having just finished recounting the weekend to Glimmer.

"If it means I'd get to hang out with someone as hot as Catra afterwards _and_ smoke weed with her and her most likely equally hot friends, then hell yeah I would," Glimmer grinned and Adora scoffed.

"Since when did you think Catra was hot?"

"Um, I have eyes, Adora, like... the girl could get it. She has hot friends I assume, well at least she's friends with Bow and we obviously know he's hot. Ooh, and didn't she hang out with Scorpia our Sophomore year? Scorpia is a tower of a woman I could definitely climb." Glimmer declared with assurance.

"Yeah, she was actually there," Adora admitted while rubbing her neck.

"Woah, really? That's cool! Oooh, is she single?" Glimmer asked excitedly, causing Adora to raise an eyebrow.

"Not sure. I didn't know you were interested?"

"No, no, no," Glimmer laughed, "I don't know if you remember, but Perfuma and her girlfriend just broke up."

"Oh yeah, the one with muscles the size of my head who was like, questionably older than us? And we all got really stressed?" Adora confirmed. She remembered the towering woman Perfuma started dating over the summer; the first time she picked Perfuma up on her motorcycle when school started, everyone was worried. They had all been checking on her since, but the sweet girl always insisted she was fine.

"Yeah, Huntara. Hopefully she learned her lesson about dating younger women, and Perfuma learned her lesson about lying about her age." Glimmer sighed. "I don't know how they expected it to work, but they tried it still. Anyway, she wasn't good for Perfuma and _way_ too old and too scary!"

"But obviously it's Perfuma and she claims she loves the maturity of an older woman. She craves the embrace of tender loving arms that can also throw her across a football field, so I realized that Scorpia could be the answer! She's like twenty yeah? Graduated two years ago? That's much better than the almost decade difference in her last relationship, I think a two year gap is reasonable," Glimmer mused.

"Uh huh. And you think Scorpia is perfect because of her muscles?"

"Precisely! Perfuma just needs to get over Huntara, and you need an excuse to hang out with Catra more," her pink haired friend explained. "So, you're gonna explain my plan to Catra and all go on a double date!"

"Wait, I'm sorry, what?" The quarterback froze.

"Don't worry, Adora, I support this completely. You two would be the hottest couple at this school, maybe even more popular than you and the Wildcat...Oh, wait! Holy shit! What're you going to do about the mascot?" she gasped and Adora groaned, momentarily forgetting Glimmer's horrible idea.

"I don't even know anymore. Because I feel like the mascot and I, we have some kind of history and even though I don't know her I still feel this connection to her. But Catra is real and here and not wearing a mask, but also doesn't like me... but she's not dating someone else for all I know, either. I have no idea, Glimmer," Adora rambled and Glimmer placed an arm around her.

"Well, luckily the double date will help solve all of that!" Glimmer said, steering Adora towards their first class, before the blonde could argue.

The first half of Adora's day remained uneventful until she reached lunch. Adora honestly wished lunch could be the most boring part of her day, just so she could enjoy the food. The two sat down at their usual table with a mix of friends ranging from other athletes to art students. Adora had already begun to dig into her amazingly made roast beef sandwich when none other than Catra, the second most consuming concept in her mind, sat down in front of her, causing Adora to practically choke on the aforementioned sandwich.

"Hey, Adora," Catra grinned, Bow taking a seat next to her. Adora tried to formulate a response, but her choking made it incredibly difficult, Glimmer quickly hitting her on the back causing Adora to swallow and then cough.

"Uh, hey," Adora replied with a grin, face red. "What's uh, what's up?" she stuttered and Catra had to stifle a giggle at the girl's dorkiness. Meanwhile, Bow and Glimmer were watching the pair, glancing at each other and back to their two friends.

"Nothing much," Catra shrugged with a lazy grin, unwrapping her own food. No one else at the table questioned Catra's presence, she sat there like she belonged. The only person that did a double take was Perfuma, but she was at the other end of the table and shrugged it off to keep talking with Mermista.

"Oh, sweet. Uh, cool, cool. What brings you to our neck of the cafeteria?" Adora questioned, mentally slapping herself at the dumb phrase.

"Well, Bow here thinks I should start being more social since it's senior year and I've avoided the student body long enough. So, I decided who better to be social with than the one and only star quarterback, Adora," Catra explained with a wink, taking a bite of her own sandwich. Adora burned up and felt a familiar twinge of frustration at the girl's lofty tone, but tried not to get defensive.

"Well, I'm glad you could grace us with your presence," Adora teased back. "This is Glimmer," She introduced and gestured to Glimmer.

"You realize Catra has been making fun of me since we started being friends too, right Adora?" Glimmer deadpanned while Catra rubbed her neck.

"My bad, Sparkles," Catra mumbled, which was almost an apology?

"Right! Excited to have all my friends here!" Bow interrupted to defuse the tension. "You guys excited for the game on Friday? I know Adora has this in the bag," he winked, trying to quickly change topics.

"Ooh! I can't wait!" Glimmer clapped. "Speaking of which, I wonder when we'll see Adora's lover again," Glimmer pondered out loud, taking one of Adora's cookies which earned her a glare. Meanwhile Catra and Bow were sharing a look, Bow's very apologetic and Catra's terrified.

"Well, it's an away game this Friday, so we aren't doing any on campus events," Bow told them and they nodded.

"Oh!" Adora sat up straight. "I have to swap jerseys with the mascot cause she has my away one, can I give it to you tomorrow Bow?" She turned to her friend.

"No prob," Bow beamed and Catra felt her heart pound.

"Oooh, maybe you can take a pic at the game of you guys in matching jerseys for your Insta?" Glimmer gushed.

"You have the mascot on your Instagram?" Catra smirked and Glimmer nodded in reply for Adora.

"Yup, you should see the girl's Instagram, filled with pictures of her and the Bright Moon Wildcat. I mean, the pictures are all adorable, but it's a bit much," Glimmer added, effectively embarrassing her best friend.

"Ooh, I would love to see these," Catra said. "Can I follow you?" she asked Adora and the football player nodded, face still red, but unable to form any verbal reply.

The two swapped Instagram information, with Glimmer butting in that she personally needed to follow Catra as well. While Catra was typing in Glimmer's username, Adora remembered something.

"Oh, by the way, I meant to text you about your sweater, and to make sure you got home safe, but I realized that I didn't have your number," she admitted a bit shyly and Catra glanced up from her phone. Glimmer and Bow both whipped their heads quickly to the pair, the girls had conveniently left out a sweatshirt exchange in their stories.

"Oh my god, yeah, I was going to text you and ask if your mom caught you but I realized I needed your phone number to do that," she responded, and Adora quickly reached across the table and plucked Catra's phone out of her hands.

"Hey!" Catra protested.

"Oh, shush, you're getting a hot jock's number," Adora silenced her, opening up Catra's contacts and creating a new one. Originally, she was going to keep it simple and just type ' _Adora'_ but after a second she added a rainbow emoji and a sword emoji, 'cause it looked cool.

After typing in her number, Adora looked up and saw Catra was in conversation with Bow, taking the opportunity to open the camera, and sneak a few pictures of Catra. She smiled at the girl's natural beauty, then quickly switched the camera so she could take a few silly selfies for Catra. Reaching back across the table, Adora handed her the phone.

"Here you are, one quarterback's number. Just make sure to use it if you ever want that sweater back." Adora grinned and Catra returned it.

"Finally, after all these years," Catra swooned dramatically, causing Adora to roll her eyes. "And I _will_ be getting that sweater back soon enough because it is comfortable as fuck," Catra teased, but before they could continue their banter Bow interrupted.

"How come _I_ don't get to borrow your comfy sweaters Catra?" Bow whined.

"Because you modified two of them to be cropped," Catra shot back

"You look good in crop tops too! You have abs just like mine, we could be ab buddies!" Bow insisted, Catra rolled her eyes. Bow had been trying to get them to wear matching cropped hoodies since they became friends. Adora tried not to think of what Catra's body looked like underneath her shirt, not a thought she needed, not at all, ever, nope.

The rest of lunch was spent in easy conversation that flowed naturally between the four. Each of the students was excited that they all got along so well, Bow and Glimmer sharing looks whenever Adora and Catra seemed to get to that line of flirting.

When the bell rang, each pair of friends said their goodbyes and went separate directions, agreeing to eat together again tomorrow. As soon as Bow and Catra turned the corner, they began excitedly discussing how well lunch went, Glimmer and Adora having a similar conversation.

"So..."

"Don't say it Glimmer," Adora warned and Glimmer frowned.

"You didn't even know what I was gonna say!" she argued, and Adora rolled her eyes.

"I know it's going to be something gross, and probably sexual."

"No, you don't! Yeesh, have some faith in me..." Glimmer grumbled, causing Adora to shake her head and sigh.

"Alright, sorry for jumping to conclusions."

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying, at lunch, Catra was flirting hella hard with you-"

"Glimmer," Adora groaned.

"And it's only a matter of time before you're gonna be hopping on that," Glimmer finished, Adora stopped dead in her tracks with a bright red face.

"Glimmer! What the fuck!" Adora growled at her, but the shorter girl just grinned cheekily.

"Oh look at the time, gotta blast! See ya later Adora!" Glimmer said quickly and went around the corner, leaving a frustrated and flustered quarterback behind her.

"Well, you're a dumb face," Adora grumbled weakly in reply before heading off to her next class.

Journalism was Adora's favorite class she had taken so far in high school. It was a nice change of pace from her rigorous schedule of AP classes and still trying to have a social life. She loved writing for fun and the class forced her to do it more often than she had been recently which was great. While waiting for class to start, Adora took her stuff out, setting it on her desk and trying not to daydream about Catra.

"Alright wimps, let's get this class started," the journalism teacher commanded the room, stark white hair against dark skin, a soft blue themed outfit. None of the students were fazed by Ms. Netossa anymore. She turned journalism into a battle strategy class, always telling students to never let their guard down, flashing stats every day of the journalists who would get killed for pursuing the truth. It was a very intense class.

"So, I finally got an activity approved that the school deemed 'safe'." The teacher rolled her eyes with air quotes around, 'safe'. "I've been working with the photography teacher, Spinny...I mean Ms. Spinerella." She cleared her throat, "Anyway, we agreed on combining our classes together for the next few weeks to do a collaborative project," Ms. Netossa explained and began passing out the assignment sheets.

"She is currently discussing the photo part of the assignment with her class and then they'll be joining us. Until then, we're going to be talking about the writing requirements. This is going to be a multi-page article that needs to be completely edited, formatted, and turned in both electronically and on a hard copy. You will be partnered with one of the advanced photography students and you two will be collaborating on the article itself and graded on the finished product. Now, most of your grade is coming from your written work, but there will be part of it that is combined, if you have any issues with your partner not working, come to me or Ms. Spinnerella, but other than that your partners have already been chosen for you," she continued as everyone listened, some people taking notes.

"Finally, the project itself. Your assignment is to create an article on either a student or faculty member here at Bright Moon High. You will be picking your person today, it is completely your choice and your partner will have no say in the matter, Ms. Spineralla doesn't want her students to have any say in their subjects. I, however, want to see who each of you pick and write your papers on, I want some pizzazz! The complete rubric for the information you need on the person and what the article must consist of is outlined in the papers I just handed out, and if you read through it you'll see that I gave you a hell of a lot of leeway to be creative, please utilize it for fuck's sake," she begged, eliciting laughs from the students. "And I think that's about it, take these next few minutes to pick the person you'll be focusing on, and come to me with any questions," Ms. Netossa finished and the class broke into a buzz of discussion as people tried to figure out who they would write about.

Adora already knew who she would be picking for the assignment, as soon as Ms. Netossa gave the assignment. It was the perfect opportunity and she couldn't resist it. The next ten minutes rolled by slowly as everyone tried to figure out who they would write about while Adora finished up her Calculus homework so she wouldn't have to later.

Finally, the classroom door opened, and in walked the young Ms. Spinnerella with her pink outfit that had Ms. Netossa practically drooling. She made her way to the front of the room, followed by twenty or so photo students who stood in the back. Adora didn't pay too much attention to them and instead looked at the two teachers at the front of the room, catching what looked like a teasing remark from Netossa which elicited a blush from Spinnerella and a swat to the shoulder. Adora grinned at the encounter, it seemed like their badass journalism teacher had a bit of a soft spot for the school's photography instructor.

"Hey guys, I'm Ms. Spinnerella and-" she began, but many students were still talking and drowned out her voice.

"Hey, Sea Hawk, shut the hell up back there," Netossa called, causing the poor boy to turn bright red and him and his friends to all quiet down. Adora chuckles lightly at her friend across the room and turned back to the two teachers. Netossa gestured for Ms. Spinnerella to continue, rolling her eyes as she did.

"Like I was saying, I'm Ms. Spinnerella, and Ms. Netossa and I are both really excited for this project. Now, we're going to get you guys paired off and you can have the last few minutes of class to exchange numbers, contact information, all that nifty stuff. So, without further ado, let's get started." She pulled out a sheet of paper, "Catra," she called to the back of the room and Adora froze. There was no way.

But sure enough, as Adora turned around, she saw the dark haired beauty walking to the front of the classroom.

_Oh, fuck._

Adora tried not to panic, she could still go through with her choice. It was fine. Besides, the odds of her getting paired with-

"Adora," Netossa called, turning around to write the pair's names on the whiteboard.

_Oh, **Fuck**._

Adora slowly walked to the front of the class, Catra noticing her and smiling brightly and excitedly. It made Adora's heart melt, but she also wanted to puke at the ironic turn of events.

"Hey, Adora," Catra whispered as Adora reached her side, and Adora greeted her with a head nod and a sweet smile. It was one of the sweetest greetings Adora had ever received from the other woman so her heart sank even further when she had to speak.

"Adora, who will your article be on? I need to write it down so no one else picks the same person," Netossa asked, expo marker in hand and Adora turned to her.

"Oh yeah, um, our article is going to be on...." She took a deep breath. "The Bright Moon Wildcat." Immediately the classroom broke into murmurs.

"Oh, shit! The school mascot, our very own celebrity. That's going to be an incredible article, Adora," Netossa beamed, earning a glare from Ms. Spinnerella.

"Language," she muttered, causing Netossa to roll her eyes again as she finished writing and Adora to giggle while Ms. Spinnerella returned to reading the next name. Adora was trying to hide her nervousness and didn't want to face Catra at the moment, she was going to be doing an assignment on her mystery crush with her current crush.

However, behind Adora, all of the color had drained from Catra's face. "Oh, fuck," She whispered. This was going to fucking suck.

That night, Adora was showered and cozily in her bed, with boxers and Catra's incredibly comfortable Horde sweater on her body. She was currently scrolling through Catra's Instagram, impressed by how good her photography was, and the many likes she received. It seemed Catra was pretty popular in the photo scene. Adora's favorite photos, though, were the ones of Catra, the girl was so beautiful it was hard not to get caught up in staring at her.

After staring at pictures of Catra for longer than a designated healthy amount, Adora prepared to close out of the app, but a notification that she was mentioned in a comment popped up. With a raised eyebrow, Adora clicked it and her jaw practically dropped at what she saw.

It was the picture Adora had taken of Catra in the cafeteria, the light hitting her profile perfectly, Catra in mid-laugh, eyes sparkling and looking absolutely stunning. It was captioned: 'Cafeteria Candids by @ _adoraballer_ (dumb handle by the way)'. Before Adora could overanalyze the entire situation, she received a text from an unsaved number.

_You know, you're a pretty good photographer, I don't even know if you need me for this project._

Grinning, Adora quickly saved the number as Catra's and typed out a reply. She had been initially worried about working on the mascot piece with Catra, and the girl didn't seem totally on board at first. But with a few smiles from Adora, the photographer was soon into the idea as well.

_Adora: Oh, shush. You're just easy to photograph. a three year old could take your picture and it would be perfect._

_Catra: I don't think that's totally accurate, but whatever floats your boat ~football princess~_

_Catra: Btw, I like the gay sword(?) vibe you were going for with your name in my phone. It's kinda dumb, but also cute._

_Adora: Thanks, I'm used to the dumb stuff from you, but the cute is new ;)_

_Catra: Don't start thinking I like you or anything like that._

_Adora: I mean you gave me your sweater, you're starting to give a girl the wrong idea._

_Catra: Guess I'll have to start pulling your hair again like in eighth grade._

_Adora: Noooooo wait, not before we can go on a double date with Scorpia and Perfuma._

There was no response after that and Adora realized what she said quickly and hurriedly tried to explain herself until her phone screen changed to an incoming call: Catra. With a deep breath, Adora picked up.

"Hey," Adora choked out hoarsely.

"So, we're going on a date you didn't even bother to inform me of?" an amused rasp replied.

"Well, no, it's not actually a _date_ , that's just what Glimmer called it, but uh anyway basically she wants to set up our friend Perfuma with Scorpia, but suggested you and I could go with, but just as friends to see if they hit it off," Adora rushed to explain, a beat of silence before Catra's reply.

"Perfuma? Like who sells me weed after school?"

"Perfuma is your dealer?" Adora asked, then thought about the other girl being the most well known dealer at the school and realized that made sense. "No wait, sorry I forgot that she's like, everyone's dealer." The blonde rubbed her neck and a light chuckle came from the other end.

"Yeah, no kidding. I mean, I've wanted to invite her to smoke with us this year since I started buying from her, but she was always riding off with some scary ass older chick." Adora could hear the shiver in her voice.

"Yeah, that's her ex, it's uh not a thing anymore. But... we could all smoke and get food or something? I'm not really sure what would be the best way to foster a relationship between them," Adora admitted and Catra let out a small snicker.

"No worries, how about I take care of the details, I'll keep it casual and I'll make sure not to tell Scorpia it's a date. If she thinks it is or she knows she's being set up she'll get all flustered and panicked," Catra explained.

"And I'll explain nothing to Perfuma because she'll probably see Scorpia and lose her mind," Adora grinned. "Awesome, this'll be a lot of fun. And we get to hang out, too!"

"Yeah," Catra answered wistfully, and Adora swore she could hear the smile in her voice. "Looking forward to it, glad you're not trying to surprise attack me with a date, dork." The teasing lilt returned to her voice and Adora rolled her eyes.

"I like spending time with you too, Catra, goodnight." Adora smiled and hung up the phone. She felt confident in how she finished the phone call and was excited about her upcoming not-date double date with Catra, and Scopia and Perfuma too, of course.

The football player set her phone on the charger on her nightstand and proceeded to do her nightly stretches before going to bed. She tried to stretch for at least fifteen minutes before bed every night in addition to her morning and before exercise ones to avoid injury.

Finally, the athlete shut off her light after stretching, and unceremoniously flung herself face down into bed, not bothering with the covers. She grabbed her phone to set her alarm for the next morning and saw a text from a few minutes ago.

_Catra: You still owe me a hoodie._

Adora found herself grinning goofily at the text before replying.

_Adora: Yes and you can have it back on our not date whenever you decide on it. As of right now it is going to be keeping me warm while I sleep, which I was off to do before you interrupted._

_Catra: You loved my interruption or you wouldn't have replied._

_Catra: And that sweater is super comfortable which is why I miss it, that is like THE no pants hoodie for me :( But, it looks good on you so I'll allow it for now. Night Adora._

_Adora: Goodnight Catra :)_

With a smile on her face, and a sweater that smelled faintly of Catra and marijuana, Adora did just that. Things were finally changing, and she knew it was for the better.


	9. (Not a) Double Date

"So, what are we doing again?" Adora asked from her laying down position in the passenger seat of Catra's car.

"It's called relaxing," Catra responded, eating some more french fries as they sat in the school parking lot, waiting for the bell to ring to signal the end of lunch.

"Uh huh, and how come this is so..." she frowned, trying to put a word to what she was feeling, "Uneventful?"

"Well, have you ever relaxed before?" Catra answered with a question.

"When I sleep," Adora confidently replied and Catra snorted, taking another sip of her shake.

"That doesn't count," Catra protested with a grin. The two's friendship grew stronger every day, and on that Friday, Glimmer had to make up a test and Bow had some cheerleading captain emergency with leadership, so Catra and Adora decided to go get lunch off campus together.

"Relaxing is when you _chill_ , like when we got high at Scorp's and you just chilled out and your jaw was unclenched for once," Catra pointed out, not looking up from her shake. Adora immediately relaxed her jaw at the other girl's words; her teeth had been clamped tightly shut, Adora didn't realize it was so noticeable.

"So... I need to be high to relax?" Adora frowned. That didn't sound fair.

"No, no, that's not what I mean at all! There's plenty of ways to relax, and honestly I think weed can be a bit of a shortcut sometimes, personally. But there's meditating, listening to music, laying on a beach, taking long walks, stargazing," Catra rattled off.

"Oh," Adora said simply, having never thought of doing things like that without a purpose before. It was always to go have fun, get something done, some kind of goal.

"You're a dork," Catra interrupted the blonde's thoughts by throwing a french fry at her which Adora ate as quickly as it landed. "But I'll try to teach you how to relax," Catra smiled at the girl.

"Well, we'll have a lot of chances because of that photo project," Adora teased, Catra tensing at the mention of the project. She had been completely freaking out over it, wondering how she was going to get the pictures of the Bright Moon Wildcat when she _was_ the Bright Moon Wildcat.

"Oh yeah, and speaking of which, can you make it across town to the football game tonight? I think it would be really cool to get pictures of the mascot in action," Adora asked, looking back at Catra who began panicking internally.

"Uh no, I can't," she quickly objected, causing Adora to frown. "I just, I don't do crowds very well. Claustrophobic, anxiety, fear of footballs, lots of noises, I get all sweaty, the lights give me a headache and uh... hives?" Catra made up quickly, throwing out every idea that came into her mind in rapid fire.

"Oh my god, I had no idea, I'm so sorry," Adora apologized and Catra felt a pang in her stomach over lying to the girl.

"No, no, it's okay, I'm the one who's sorry. But, I talked to Bow and asked him about letting me take pictures of the mascot, and he gave me some days I could go do it, so I already got the photos covered," Catra assured.

"Wow, that's wonderful, thanks for being on it, Catra!" the blonde gushed, sincerity shining in clouds of gray-blue irises.

"Yeah, no problem." Catra rubbed the back of her neck trying to calm the heating of her cheeks under Adora's gaze. "And also, if you want me to edit any of the writing or do the boring sources page or formatting the article itself, I wouldn't mind. Oh, and by the way, I keep forgetting to ask you this, but how do you plan to interview the mascot, exactly?" Catra asked with curiosity.

"An excellent question, my dear Catra," Adora grinned, the darker haired girl raising an eyebrow, "that I do not have an answer to." She sighed, face dropping, "I've gone over everything from thinking of yes and no questions to consider investing in a voice modulator so she can speak freely," Adora admitted.

"Well," Catra thought out loud, "maybe get a translator?"

"What do you mean?" Adora asked.

"Bow knows the mascot personally, you could ask the questions, he could translate, and bam, you're se," suggested Catra, and Adora beamed once more in response.

"That's brilliant! I'll ask him later tonight, I hope he's okay with it," her excited reply came.

"I think he'll be fine with it," Catra assured her with a confident smirk and the two returned to eating their food.

"Hey, Catra?" Adora asked after a few more moments of silence, interrupting Catra's blissful enjoyment of the golden fried potatoes that were getting colder the more Adora talked.

"Hmmm?" she hummed in reply, eyes closed in a futile effort to trick herself into believing that she was actually relaxing. Clearly if Adora wasn't capable of sitting comfortably for more than two seconds, she wasn't going to let Catra do it either.

"Since you're not going to the game tonight, do you maybe wanna do our not-date with Scorpia and Perfuma after?" Adora suggested.

"You want me to rush my super awesome plan?"

"Didn't you just tell me on the way to get food you wanted us to all smoke because you know Perfuma will match you?" Adora raised an accusatory eyebrow.

"Hmmm, I suppose I recall saying something of the sort. Very well, I know that Scorpia will be down. Permission granted," Catra said in a formal voice, chin raised.

"Awesome! I'll text you when I'm back tonight and we can go do whatever you guys want, I hope you don't mind that it'll be late. Oh shit wait, will that be a problem with you and Scorpia volunteering?"

"Nah, not at all," Catra assured her, earning another beaming smile from her crush. "We've done plenty of all nighters and busted out some amazing food for people the next day. Don't even need caffeine," she bragged.

"Wow, Catra. I really had you pegged wrong. All these years I thought you hated me, but you've done so much for me this past week, I'm really sorry for judging you so harshly," she apologized, placing her hand on the smaller woman's shoulder. Catra placed her own gently on top of Adora's.

"Hey, it's okay, we all tend to judge people on first impressions. I'm sorry I never knew how to talk to you." Catra turned to meet the blonde's gaze, both smiling with flushed cheeks. "Thanks, Adora."

The girls remained locked in each other's gaze, but jumped apart suddenly at the harsh buzz of the lunch bell. Adora and Catra hurriedly gathered their trash, fumbled out rushed goodbyes, and sped off to their next classes blushing furiously.

"I'm sorry, you want me to do what?" Bow asked Catra as they sat at Bow's kitchen table after school, eating sandwiches his dads made for them before the duo had to be back at the school to leave with the rest of the squad for the game. Catra didn't mind Bows' fathers knowing about her, mostly because it felt like she had parents supporting her at the games, and they were ecstatic to keep her secret.

"Bow, it's for Adora's project, all you have to do is just wear the outfit for like an hour tops one day when we practice so I can take some pictures, and then just translate one afternoon for Adora's interview, that's it." Catra repeated, trying to make it sound as simplistic as possible.

"Catra, I love you to death, and Adora is awesome, and definitely likes you. Just tell her, and I _promise_ this will make everything way easier," Bow attempted to coax the girl. He was really starting to dread just how much work this secret identity was becoming.

"No! I just-I'm not ready yet. I know this is a lot to ask Bow, but please do this for me. I will do whatever you want, I'll take you out to a super nice dinner, I'll let you have aux cord privileges for a month, hell you can pick my outfits out once every week for the rest of the school year," Catra pleaded.

"It _would_ be nice for us to finally be ab buddies," Bow mused while rubbing his chin, but shook his head. "I'll do it, but on one _other_ condition in addition to being ab buddies!" he declared.

"Of course, anything," Catra nodded and Bow grinned.

"You reveal yourself to Adora before homecoming."

"I can't! Bow, that's in like less than two months! It's at the end of the football season, that's so soon!" the lithe girl argued, clenching her fists.

"That's my deal, take it or leave it, Catra." Bow stood firm with his arms crossed. He wasn't going to let Catra hide behind that mask anymore. Catra stared him down for a moment, wishing she had the ability to be genuinely mad at him, but also knowing Bow only wanted to help her.

"Fine," Catra muttered with a sigh. "And what would happen if homecoming came around and I didn't tell her?"

"I would tell her myself," Bow smirked and Catra groaned. "So, we have a deal?" he confirmed reaching out for his friend.

"Yeah, yeah, you're lucky I like you," Catra mumbled and shook Bow's hand.

"Excuse you, you're the one that's lucky," Bow scoffed. "Now come on, we gotta go lead some cheering!" he announced enthusiastically, rising from the table. Catra stuffed the rest of her sandwich in her mouth and followed suit.

The two grabbed their duffle bags from Bow's room, Catra's filled with all the water she would inevitably need later, a change of clothes, and the bag of red lollipops she always kept in there. Popping one in her mouth after unwrapping it, Catra hoisted the duffle onto her shoulder and went out to her car with Bow to head back to the school

That night at the game, Adora stood on the field, sporting her away game jersey that was bright white and freshly washed. Bow had Glimmer rush it to Adora in the locker room before the game to do a quick swap with the blonde for her other jersey. The stands were full of excited students and community members, but the athlete was only paying attention to the cheering woman in a fur suit.

The quarterback noticed that the Wildcat moved with a charisma she had never seen before, all of the girl's spirit and energy was channeled into her performance, making her completely captivating to watch. Watching carefully, Adora felt she was starting to understand something deeper about the girl inside of the uniform. Whoever it was in there was special. This girl could captivate an audience with no effort, command a room without a word, that wasn't something you could hide every day.

But she did.

Before she could ponder on the identity of the person in the costume any longer, she heard Coach Micah call her name. Slapping on her helmet, Adora jogged over to her team to huddle up, redirecting her focus to winning the game. She gave her team a short pep talk in the huddle to fire them up, instinct and adrenaline starting to sink in for everyone. Adora was buzzing with excitement; the energy of her desire to win, desire to show off, was rubbing off on the team. By the time they took position on the field, the other team was already nervous by the imposing energy of the Bright Moon Wildcats.

Once again, surprising to none, Adora led the football team to a strategic and well executed victory. The past few games her focus had been unmatched and it hadn't gone unnoticed by her teammates, coach, or classmates. Everyone could tell that Adora was playing better than she ever had before, it was like someone had hit a super charged switch on the talented player and turned her into an eight foot tall football goddess. The only person who didn't notice the difference was Adora, she was only focused on impressing the cat-eared cheerleader, which meant winning. Bright Moon won by a landslide and the team carried Adora down the field with deafening cheers, but she had her eyes on the cheer team. 

The second the football team set her on solid ground again, Adora dashed down to the field to go and meet the mascot who was already being bombarded by people wanting photos and hugs. Adora patiently waited, mindlessly thanking people who congratulated her, watching the way the Wildcat interacted with each person who came up to her in a genuine, unique way.

Once the Bright Moon Wildcat finished greeting her adoring fans, she glanced around seeming to look for something and stopped as soon as she saw Adora. Even the oblivious football player could notice the way the Wildcat perked up upon seeing her. With a quick pace, the Wildcat headed over, taking a dramatic bow, pulling a red lollipop from her pocket, and offering it to Adora while still in the ridiculous pose.

"You don't have to bow to me, dummy," Adora chuckled as she took the lollipop. "I actually needed to ask you something."

The mascot stood up straight and made a gesture against the side of the helmet, indicating she was listening to the football player.

"Okay, so, I'm writing an article for my journalism class, and well, uh, you're my topic," Adora explained while rubbing her neck. "And I was wondering if you'd be willing to conduct an interview, with Bow acting as a translator. I promise none of the questions will be pertaining to your identity, I respect your privacy and only want to highlight your greatness, so uh, yeah," Adora rushed out sheepishly, cheeks red.

The Wildcat pointed at herself to confirm Adora was indeed talking about her, earning a laugh and a playful shove from the jock.

"Stop! I'm being serious!" Adora huffed and the Wildcat nodded, bowing her head in apology. "Now, will you do it, please?" Adora asked with her best pout, making Catra smile goofily inside the suit. Of course she was going to say yes.

Outside, the Wildcat excitedly nodded, posing with her fist in the air and a hand on her hip, earning another laugh from Adora. "I feel like this is going to be a very interesting essay, and who knows, maybe I could get another kiss?" She asked teasingly with hope laced words.

The Wildcat made a pondering gesture against her helmet, earning another swat from Adora. "You're such a jerk, maybe I should write my article on someone else then..."

Quickly shaking her head, the Wildcat pulled Adora into the biggest hug, arms around the girl's waist as she lifted her into the air, earning a yell and more laughter from Adora. She held the sweaty quarterback tightly against her, rocking back and forth in apology.

"Oh my god! I get it, you're sorry! Now put me down before I take off your mask," she threatened, earning a muffled chuckle from inside the uniform. With a smirk, Adora was set down and she began fixing her hair, a futile effort with her sweaty mess of a ponytail. Catra found it endearing.

"I have to head out now, I'm going to hang out with a friend who didn't make it to the game, but I'll see you later okay?" Adora promised, earning a nod from the Wildcat, and playful shoulder punch from Adora.

Watching the girl go, Catra stood their dopily, in a crush-induced haze, until realization hit her. She was the friend Adora was referring to.

"Shit!" Catra audibly cursed from within the uniform and ran off the field, thus beginning the quickest change out of the overheated suit Catra had ever done. She forced Bow to guard a random bathroom while she changed, dashing out of the parking lot while zipping her duffle with promises to wear a coordinated outfit next week.

"Scorpia!" Catra screeched as she kicked open the door to her home.

"AH! Catra!" the white haired woman shouted at the sudden intrusion, the broom in her hands clattering to the ground. Catra ignored the woman's near heart attack and started yanking her clothes off to go take a shower while Scorpia scrambled to grab the broom and dustpan she dropped. "We're hanging out with Perfuma and Adora soon, so get ready. I gotta shower really quick."

"Oh, well, um, okay. I didn't know we were hanging out with them tonight, but sounds like a lot of fun. I was just in the middle of cleaning, but I guess I can save the rest for tomorrow, what are we doing-" Scorpia rambled, back turned to the hall. She looked over her shoulder and realized her roommate had already left. "Alrighty sounds great!" Scorpia yelled down the hall.

Down the hall, Catra took the quickest shower of her lifetime, almost busting her ass open from literally jumping into it. She was in the middle of detangling hair when her phone beeped with a message from Adora. Brush in one hand still going through her hair, she picked up the phone with her other to read it.

**_Adorka: Hey Catra, I just got back from the football game, I got out of the showers kinda fast lol. Are you ready to hang out soon?_ **

**_Catra: Yeah I was helping Scorpia in the garden so we just got all cleaned up, we'll come pick you up in Scorpia's car soon, sound good?_ **

**_Adorka: Yeah that sounds great! No rush, Perfuma is over and she's explaining the growth period for weed plants. Tbh it's kinda cool. I'm excited for us to all hang out :)_ **

**_Catra: lol i'll see you in a few Adorka._ **

Catra quickly set her phone down after sending the last text, and launched into drying her hair. She dried it to the point that it wasn't dripping anymore and pulled it back into a ponytail. Catra then headed into her room, trying to decide what outfit would be most appropriate for casually hanging out with her crush on a not-date.

She shrugged and grabbed a pair of black jeans, burgundy Horde tank with stylistic tears in the fabric, it looked like she had just gotten out of a knife fight when she wore it. Catra pulled on a black and white flannel to complete her outfit before kicking on her shoes, applying some deodorant, and dashing from her room to Scorpia's. She threw open her roommate's door with ferocity.

"You ready Scorpia?!"

"GAH!" a thud resounded as Scorpia hit her foot on her nightstand trying to turn to the sudden intrusion. "Whoo, hey there Catra, you really gave me a scare," Scorpia chuckled, shaking out her painful foot and wincing. "Oof, man I hit that hard... Oh, but yeah! I am totally ready, I brushed my hair, flossed, put on some cologne, got some in my mouth, and I just got my shoes on so I would say I'm good to go!"

"Alright cool, we're picking them up, you wanna take your car?" Catra asked with a smirk and saw Scorpia's eyes sparkle.

"You want me to drive everyone in my sweet baby girl?" Scorpia gasped.

"Yes, it's a lot cleaner than my car and yours doesn't make that rattling sound."

"Well, if you just let Entrapta look at it-"

"I'll let her look at it some other time, come on!" Catra groaned and grabbed Scorpia's wrist, pulling her muscular friend down the hall to the front door. Entrapta sat in the living room furiously typing away at a laptop, with another one to her side that she would turn to and type just as quickly with blurry fingers.

"You're going out tonight?" she questioned without looking up.

"Yes, with Adora and Perfuma, _please_ remember to set a timer so you go to bed," Catra reminded the purple haired woman who gave a vague nod in reply. She looked to Scorpia who nodded and walked over to Entrapta's phone to turn on three different alarms so the girl would remember to get some fucking sleep. 

"Bye, Entrapta!" Scorpia waved enthusiastically to only receive another grunt in reply. Catra dragged her friend out the door and out to the well maintained deep ruby red car of Scorpia's. It was some kind of SUV Catra couldn't bother herself to remember the name of, but it was may more badass than the sedan Catra drove. Scorpia unlocked the vehicle and took up the driver's seat, Catra popping into the passenger side with a text to Adora to inform her they were on their way. 

"So, what're we gonna do tonight Catra?" Scorpia asked, and Catra shrugged as she kept her eyes on her phone.

"Get high?" Catra suggested, "Perfuma is bringing weed too, I told Adora to remind her, and I figured we could like, go to a spot, smoke and chill? I don't have like _any_ money so I'd rather do something lowkey."

"You also hate people," Scorpia reminded her as she made a turn, never taking her eyes off the road. Always prioritizing safety, Scorpia was easily the most skilled driver Catra had ever seen due to the woman's sheer diligence. That was the other reason Catra wanted her to drive, she could always make anyone feel safe in a car and she wanted to make sure her Adora felt safe the entire night. (Catra would never admit to Scorpia that Catra had been saved from multiple panic attacks due to the other woman's calming presence and impeccable driving).

"You're not wrong," came Catra's noncommittal response.

"Have I met Perfuma before? Oh man, I am gonna feel like _such_ a jerk if I've met her in the past, but I don't remember now," Scorpia began panicking.

"Relax,Scorp. She's just my dealer, and if you met her it would've been when you were back in school with us, she was in my class," Catra explained. "Hippie type, blonde hair, freckles, always wearing sundresses," she rattled off.

"I _think_ my Sophomore year at the Pep Rally she performed with her drum circle club from school. Then they got kicked out of the rally because we had no drum circle club at school and she never even got permission to perform at the rally to begin with," Catra explained.

"Oooh! Yeah! That was incredible, the display of pure love and passion in that performance was just..." Scorpia sniffled and Catra glanced over to see a few tears welling in the smiling woman's eyes. _Was she seriously crying?_

"Yeah, so anyway, that's Perfuma. She also got suspended for trying to grow weed in the school greenhouse, but managed to talk her way out of it by convincing Vice Principal Weaver to use some homemade weed balm she made from the plants on her scars and shit."

"Woah," Scorpia gulped, beginning to feel intimidated by this woman. She had never known Perfuma in high school, just remembered her sweet smiles to Scorpia in the hallway. Even though that was a few years ago, she still felt overwhelmed by everything this girl had done in high school alone. Catra, picking up on Scorpia's nerves, placed a comforting hand on the driver's shoulder.

"Perfuma is the sweetest person in the universe, Scorpia, second only to you. Don't be scared and just relax, all we're doing is getting high with some friends, and you're the best friend around!" she exclaimed, ruffling Scorpia's hair.

"Hey, don't distract the driver, Wildcat!" Scorpia warned, but her tone remained happy. Catra settled back in her seat to satisfy Scorpia, and finally the white haired woman continued.

"I _am_ the best friend! Brave, strong, and loyal!"

"Don't forget, you give great hugs, too," Catra reminded her from the passenger seat, earning a beaming smile from Scorpia and another laugh from Catra. The two girls shared a fist bump over the center console without looking, turning on the radio as they continued heading to Adora's.

As soon as the duo pulled up in front of Adora's house, the front door immediately opened, and Adora was dragging Perfuma outside towards the car. Catra immediately hopped out and Scorpia gave her a weird look; she realized she couldn't explain to her friend that she was trying to be her wing-man.

"I wanna sit next to Adora," Catra blurted out stupidly and Scorpia lit up. Wrong choice of words, but it would have to do.

" _Oooooooh,_ well, say no more," Scorpia gave her an over-exaggerated wink, to which Catra rolled her eyes in response and moved to the back. Perfuma hopped in the front, wearing one of her flowy sundresses, blonde hair braided loosely to the side with various wildflowers woven throughout.

"Hi, I'm Perfuma, I know you probably don't know who I am, but I just always admired you sooooo much on the football team when you went to Bright Moon," Perfuma immediately gushed to Scorpia, grabbing the older woman's hand between her own to give a warm squeeze to.

"Awww, shucks, thank you so much for saying that, I really wasn't all that great. I mean, Adora did most of the work," Scorpia blushed, rubbing her neck with a vague gesture back to the blonde entering the car to slide in next to Catra with a smile.

"Hey," Adora whispered to Catra, "how's it going?" she asked conspiratorially, eyes darting to the two in the front seat. Catra wasn't able to immediately answer, she was too distracted by the shirt Adora had changed into. It was a white Bright Moon High t-shirt that had the sleeves and part of the shirt itself cut off. Catra could see Adora's black sports bra, her entire side, and most distractingly, her abs.

"Catra? You good?" Adora's voice broke through her staring and she quickly shook her head.

"Yeah no totally good. Sorry, what'd you say?"

"I was just asking how it was going with them," Adora replied with a head nod to Perfuma and Scorpia already chatting in the front.

"Well, not to burst your bubble, but I've seen just about as much as you so I can't really give you an update," Catra said with a chuckle and an eyeroll. Adora gave a dumb smile in return and Catra felt her heart melt.

"Hi, Catra! It's so wonderful to see you," Perfuma gushed, turning around to greet her most frequent client. "How are you doing?" she asked, pure warmth radiating from her voice.

"Hey, Perfuma, I'm good. About to run out of that Strawberry Cough thoug," Catra replied and a glint appeared in Perfuma's eyes.

"I'll make sure I have some on Monday for you," Perfuma giggled. "I'm more than happy to always sell to you Catra, whenever you want!"

"Hey, Adora!" Scorpia greeted enthusiastically, giving a wave before pulling the car away from Adora's house.

"Hey, Scorp, it's great to see you," Adora warmly responded. "So, what're we doing?" Adora asked, turning back to Catra,

"You'll see, and there's food at the end of it so it'll be great," Catra answered ambiguously, but Adora shrugged. That was good enough for her. She decided to let Catra do whatever she was planning, the football player figured she'd be content with whatever it was anyway.

"Hey, pass me the aux, Scorpia?" Catra called from the back and retrieved a cord passed back from Perfuma at the driver's direction. "We have a playlist for these kinds of nights," Catra explained, plugging her phone in and hitting a few buttons. Relaxing music began to pour through the speakers, an out of world energy pulsing through the music.

"You guys listen to this playlist whenever you have _these kinds_ of nights?" Adora confirmed, air quoting the girl's vague words. "Don't the songs get old?" Adora asked and Catra just smiled again.

"It's a playlist that consists of over five-hundred songs, every time we agree on a song that should be added to it, we do. We put it on shuffle every time and it's worked out well so far," Catra explained.

"Oh, wow," Perfuma jumped in. "I love that! This must be such a powerful playlist with so much loving energy forming it!" She nodded in approval, earning more laughs from Catra and Adora.

The next fifteen minutes of driving consisted of the girls driving down the coast on the night time roads, everyone bantering and laughing, enjoying the music and each other.

Scorpia drove them up towards a lookout spot with a picturesque view the ocean. She parked facing the ocean, everyone in the car able to see the crashing waves from their positions.

"Woah. This is gorgeous," Adora gasped.

"Yeah, it's a really nice lookout spot. Scorpia and I have been coming here for a really long time," Catra explained.

"It's one of the nicest places to look at the ocean and just relax. It is absolutely beautiful!" Scorpia added. The driver leaned over towards the passenger seat for the glove box, realizing she was starting to reach across Perfuma's lap. Her cheeks darkened and she quickly straightened up.

"Sorry! Oh man, I am so sorry about that, force of habit. Um, if you could just grab that black box inside the glove compartment, if you don't mind..." Scorpia trailed off at Perfuma's giggle in response. The sweet woman just placed a hand on Scorpia's bicep in comfort.

"It's okay, I really don't mind," Perfuma assured her with a bright smile then leaned forward to open the glove compartment. She pulled out a sizable black wooden box that was a few inches deep. Carved on top of the wooden box was a very crude cartoon scorpion.

"This is so cute!" Perfuma gasped, passing the box to the driver. "That carving is just too adorable!"

Adora beamed from the back seat at seeing Perfuma and Scorpia hitting it off so well. Perfuma was complimenting Scorpia's cute box, they already made physical contact, things were going perfect. The quarterback turned to Catra to gush about it, but the other woman was blushing furiously, eyes glued to the front.

"You really think it's cute? I mean, I love scorpions, so I obviously love this box, cause of the scorpion," Scorpia rambled. "Also, Catra carved this for me after I broke my ankle, and she knew how much I love these little pointy fellows!" Scorpia announced proudly, looking back to her best friend who was now staring at the floor with a burning face.

"You carved this for her?" Perfuma sniffled. Catra looked up to see the girl had tears welling in her eyes; she was looking at Catra like she was some kind of baby animal she wanted to hug. This was her worst nightmare.

"She sure did! Catra is such a great friend, I remember all the cuts that she had for like two weeks. Do you remember how worried I was Catra? _Oh man,_ " she chuckled heartily at the memory, "I was always trying to give you bandaids and you just wouldn't tell me what was up, that was so scary," she shook her head. "But then finally Catra comes up to me before school starts one morning and shoves this box in my hands with the _sweetest_ note inside!"

"Oh, my heart!" Perfuma swooned. "What a beautiful friendship you two share, can I ask what the note said?"

Scorpia grinned wickedly and slid the top off the box, carefully setting it to the side. Inside of the box was a pipe, also with a scorpion on it, a grinder and stash container both with the Horde skate brand logo, a few joints, and a small piece of paper folded up. Scorpia pulled out the worn piece of paper and handed it to Perfuma, gesturing for her to open up what looked like something torn carelessly from part of a page in a notebook. The unfolded paper contained few words scrawled out haphazardly in black ink, with a scribble on top where it looked like the pen had died part way through.

_'I got you some weed stuff. The box and pipe are because you like scorpions or whatever.'_

_-Catra_

In the back seat Catra was praying for someone to come kill her, of course Scorpia would tell everyone how she got the box. She was beyond embarrassed, but finally looked at Adora, only to be met by the exact same stupid expression as Perfuma's.

"You carved a box for her?" Adora gushed. "You are so swe-"

"Okay, let's get high now!" Catra interrupted everyone, leaning into the front seat to quickly snatch the box from Scorpia. "You guys wanna smoke some joints?"

"I brought a blunt!" Perfuma giggled excitedly from the front, pulling a fat blunt from behind her ear. Everyone looked at her for a moment, wondering how none of them had noticed it, but then realized that Perfuma always had blunts and flowers behind her ear and it looked too natural on the woman for it to register.

"Holy shit, Perfuma, I knew that your rolling was like legendary, but this..." Catra held out her hand to examine the blunt which Perfuma proudly gave to her. The brunette held it in the palms of her hands, cradling it like a fragile artifact, "this is art, Perfuma. It's huge, but so even, and you wrapped it so tightly," Catra muttered in awe, eyes wide. Adora looked at her with concern, wondering if Catra was going to start crying.

Perfuma held her hand to her mouth and giggled. "It's _three grams!_ " she exclaimed. Adora thought that Catra was going to faint from the way she froze, jaw wide open at Perfuma's words. A few moments passed with no response from the other girl, Adora gently shook her shoulder.

"Catra?"

"Three grams..." she whispered to herself, "alright!" She blinked, finally back in the moment, "Let's get this started. Perfuma, since you brought this beautiful blunt, I think you should start us off," Catra announced, handing the large blunt and a lighter back up to Perfuma.

"Oh, you are too kind, Catra, but actually I think Scorpia should have the first hit. She did drive us out here," Perfuma beamed and handed the items to Scorpia, looking at the driver through her eyelashes as she did.

"Me? Wow, thank you, Perfuma!" She smiled warmly and started to work on lighting the blunt, completely missing the adoration filled look the blonde gave her. Scorpia wasn't the most skilled with her hands, she knew how to catch a football because they were so big, but lighters were always tricky. Perfuma observed the muscled woman carefully trying to push down the safety on the lighter to light it. It took a few tries, but Scorpia got it lit and took a huge puff.

"Whoo, that is quite strong. Oh my, wow, that is, yeah, that is some good stuff," Scorpia nodded with a slight cough, passing the blunt to Perfuma. "Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it!" Perfuma smiled once more. In the back seat, Catra and Adora exchanged knowing looks; it was already going a million times better than either of them could have hoped. 

Perfuma took a long, slow drag off of the blunt, inhaling deeply and playfully blowing the smoke back out at Scorpia. The white haired woman was too stunned by how big of a hit she took to register she was having smoke blown on her. Another giggle and Perfuma passed the blunt back to Catra mindlessly, more focused on looking at the tall strong woman next to her in the driver's seat.

Catra took it with wide eyes, excited to finally hit the beautiful piece of art in front of her. Smoke filled her lungs as she inhaled, feeling the familiar harsh burn and head buzz from the tobacco. Scorpia was right when she said it was strong, Catra wouldn't be surprised if Perfuma put kief or some kind of concentrate in it. She exhaled and leaned back, passing it to Adora.

"You smoked one of these before, Adorka?" Catra teased and Adora rolled her eyes as she snatched the blunt.

"I'm not _that_ weed illiterate," Adora huffed, eliciting a smile from Catra as she watched expectantly.

Adora, wanting to impress Catra, took a huge hit off of the blunt and held it. She fought every urge to cough as she passed it back to Scorpia, Catra's eyes still on her. While maintaining eye-contact, Adora released the smoke in her mouth slowly towards the roof of the car, leaning back in what she hoped was a 'chill' way. Catra nodded in approval at her crush taking the hit like such a champ and sunk into her own seat, content. Meanwhile, Adora was willing every part of her body to not cough, she made it this far and was determined to stay strong. So Adora held it in.

After the third rotation, she couldn't take anymore. "Guys, if I hit that monster again, I'm gonna be turning into some kind of magical being," she mumbled, everyone laughing as Adora passed the blunt to Scorpia.

"No worries, you don't want to smoke any more than what you are comfortable with," Perfuma advised, Scorpia taking her hit and passing it to the dealer. "We can always smoke the rest later, I know I'm starting to feel it," she giggled.

"You're just starting to feel this? Fuck, Perfuma, how much do you smoke?" Catra asked, taking the blunt from Perfuma after the woman took another huge hit. The inside of the car resembled a steam room with all of the smoke inside.

"Well, I usually have a joint before my morning meditations and yoga. Then I have a couple of bowls before school, maybe an edible, too, and then I always smoke again during lunch. That's my typical day around school," Perfuma replied happily. The other three girls stared at her wide-eyed wondering if she was kidding, but the hippie showed no sign of joking.

"Oh um, is that okay?" Scorpia asked with concern, arms held to her chest.

"Don't worry about me you goofball, I've made it this far," Perfuma giggled, causing Scorpia's expression to soften. Adora rolled her eyes and grumbled something to herself that sounded like, ' _barely'._ Catra frowned and examined the way her best friend looked at the younger woman in the passenger seat, wondering what she just pulled Scorpia into.

Scorpia and Perfuma were paying them no mind, Perfuma was watching the waves crash against the shore in complete contentment while Scorpia continued to stare at Perfuma like she was the one conducting the rise and fall of the ocean they watched.

"I like your eyes," Adora blurted out to Catra. The brunette turned to see the bloodshot blue-eyes of her favorite football player much closer to her than before.

"Yeah?" Catra grinned, trying to hide her blush. "I really like your eyes too."

"Nah, mine are just one color." Adora shook her head, "Yours are like... like... Have you ever been panning for gold? What am I saying, we went on the same field trip when we were in second grade," Adora grinned while Catra wondered where she was going with all of this.

"Do you remember when we went panning for gold? And it was beautiful outside, there was that stream under the trees that we all walked to," Adora retold, hands moving along to imitate a river. "You could see the little flecks of gold floating in the water, catching the light. Your eye looks just like those flecks of gold, but all collected together, and your other eye is the same color of the sky peeking through the trees," Adora beamed at Catra with the stupidest smile the brunette had ever seen.

"Wow," Catra mumbled to the girl with cheeks aflame, "thank you." She mumbled with sincerity, earning another stupid smile from the girl so close to her face. "But if we're going off stupid eye comparisons, then yours look like storms."

"Storms?" Adora asked.

"Yeah. Like those dark gray clouds you start to see form over the horizon? The sky is so blue, but all of this gray fills the distance and it's just so calming," Catra explained. "Well, at least to me. You just have these eyes that are so kind at face value, but if anyone looks at them for just a minute longer, they see the storm brewing inside," she continued, eyes never leaving Adora's. "Your eyes are a storm forming over an ocean Adora, don't discredit the ocean," Catra begged.

"Of course not, the ocean is so beautiful," Adora whispered with hooded eyes, still close to Catra, each one inching closer.

"Then why discredit your own natural beauty?" Catra asked softly. "Be proud of the storms, and so much more, that are present in your eyes, Adora," she rasped.

"Okay," Adora said softly, eyes flickering down to Catra's lips. She could go for it, kiss those inviting lips, but if she did, everything would change. This girl she had only been talking to for about a week would suddenly become a bigger part of her life. Catra had shown herself to be amazing. She was the first person Adora had ever felt something more than a simple attraction towards, and that was so new to Adora, so strange. Hating Catra used to come so naturally to her, she never saw the other girl as anything more than a nuisance, but now...

Kissing Catra would bring a change Adora wasn't sure she was ready for, it would build new expectations, something she was still establishing with her new friendship with Catra. No one had ever gotten very close to Adora, and it wasn't her own fault, she just preferred to let others open up to her instead of her to them. Glimmer knew her, but Glimmer was also spared all of the specific details. She was scared of her past, scared of admitting the times she had failed, scared of the ways she had perpetuated that rift between her and Catra in the past. Scared of ways that she created it in the first place.

Adora wasn't ready to take off her mask yet.

With that thought, she smiled brightly at Catra and slowly pulled away to lean back in her own seat, the brunette haired girl doing the same as they sat in the haze surrounding them.

"Hey, Catra," Scorpia called from the front, earning a hum in reply from Catra. "Wanna go make these girls some food?"

"Yay!" Perfuma and Adora said at the same time and Catra laughed.

"Yeah, sounds great, Scorp."


	10. Catra and Adora, Sitting in a Tree

"I was under the impression you would all be having intercourse tonight. But according to my calculations," the purple haired inventor began, looking at her watch, "you're home one-hundred and twenty minutes early; Scorpia you're home one-hundred and forty, so I'm assuming that no one could get aroused?" Entrapta asked the group of girls as soon as they walked through the front door, immediately returning to her computer typing.

"Hey, Entrapta," Catra groaned, leading Adora to the kitchen. Scorpia and Perfuma could deal with Entrapta, she didn't have the brain capacity for that at the moment. "Just ignore her."

"Was she told that this was a double date, too?" Adora teased and wriggled her eyebrows, following Catra.

"Something like that," mumbled Catra with warm cheeks. "What're you hungry for?" she asked as she began rummaging through the cupboards for supplies.

"Mmm, what about breakfast? Like eggs and pancakes, and sausage! No wait, Scorpia and Perfuma are vegetarian..."

"We have vegetarian sausage, I just bought some," Catra replied automatically, causing Adora to pause. Catra didn't realize her poor choice of words, but even a stoned Adora caught it.

"Hey. Catra?" the blonde asked softly.

"What's up?" the other girl replied without looking at her, pulling out ingredients to create a breakfast spread, easy stoned smile on her face.

"How often are you here?" came the question, causing Catra to freeze in place. Her blissful smile dissolved into a confused frown.

"Why do you ask?"

"Catra..." Adora responded, not wanting to say what she had been wondering out loud, "you're just really comfortable here, and I've heard you say 'we' a few times. You buy groceries here, you and Scorpia act more like roommates than people hanging out. How often are you here?" Adora repeated.

"A lot," Catra mumbled.

"How much is a lot?"

"All the time," Catra whispered, back still turned to Adora as she started to pour out ingredients. She didn't want to see the pity on Adora's face, she didn't want to see the sadness, the confusion, but instead, Catra felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see blue-grey eyes of understanding.

"How long have you lived here?" Adora asked softly, the gentleness never leaving her eyes.

"Pretty much since Scorpia bought it," Catra admitted quietly. "I was tired of moving from foster home to foster home. If you run away and show up again when you're eighteen you get kicked out anyway. My birthday was earlier this year, I went back, got officially removed or whatever, like they cared," she explained. It wasn't a hard decision after Scorpia had saved up for the shabby home, Catra was able to put money from summer jobs into fixing it up, and obviously Scorpia was more than happy to have her around.

"I had no idea...Catra..." Adora reached for the brunette who pulled herself away instinctively.

"It's fine!" she snapped. The football player could clearly tell it wasn't, but also didn't want to push the other girl, especially since they had finally started getting closer.

"Okay, Catra. Just know though, I'm here, okay?" she asked softly, placing a gentle hand on the other girl. Catra leaned into her touch, Adora taking the opportunity to pull her into a warm embrace. When they held each other, everything felt right. She felt like nothing mattered when Adora held her, and honestly what did? Catra didn't do hugs a lot, but in that moment, nothing could feel more natural. The brunette couldn't help but wonder if it was normal to be held while upset, maybe she needed to accept Scorpia's offers more.

"Thank you."

"Of course," Adora responded with one last squeeze to the shorter woman before pulling away. "So! Breakfast!" she changed the subject which Catra was beyond grateful for.

"I can make a shit ton of pancakes, and hashbrowns if you wanna help?" Catra asked hopefully.

"Of course! I take it you guys make them from scratch?"

"You're catching on," Catra smirked. "There's potatoes in the pantry, grab some of those."

Adora grabbed the potatoes and followed Catra's step by step directions. The two women worked together in quiet comfort, occasionally breaking the silence to talk about cooking. Catra didn't think Adora was capable of being quiet for so long, but the blonde was radiating a relaxed energy and working quietly. Then, Catra remembered that Adora was high.

"Hey, Adora, how's the potato shredding going?" Catra asked, moving to stand next to the girl and look over her shoulder. The football player had only done one potato in the amount of time Catra could have done five.

"It's going amazing, it's so cool how you can like just slide the potato in this thing and it just like slow motion cuts through it like," Adora loaded another potato into the manual shredder, putting her hand on the handle and slowly bringing it down. The blades cut through the potato at a snail's pace, Adora excitedly watching as she continued to press down. Catra rolled her eyes, the other girl was simultaneously making the process harder and remarkably slower, considering the tool was designed to use one quick motion on.

"Hey, dumbass, watch this," Catra chuckled, removing Adora's hand from the handle, taking it in her own and raising it high. Adora watched captively, eyes never leaving Catra's hands. With a smirk, the brunette brought the handle down like a hammer, the blades slicing through the entire potato and leaving shreds.

"Woah," Adora whispered.

"Yeah," Catra laughed and patted the girl's back, "I think you can handle the rest."

Excitedly nodding, Adora jumped into action, beginning to chop through potatoes at a frenzied pace. Catra shook her head fondly as she turned back to finish the pancake batter. They started cooking after preparing all of the necessary ingredients, Catra then kicked Adora out of the kitchen, claiming that the blonde in her high state was too much of a safety hazard. Adora tried her best to argue, but Catra sent her outside with some Doritos to snack on with Perfuma and Scorpia. Once the colorful bag was in her hands, Adora confidently marched out the back door.

When she stepped outside she saw that Scorpia was escorting Perfuma around her garden, pointing out each plant and detailing how hard she had worked to grow them. Perfuma had her arm wrapped around Scorpia's, hanging onto the white-haired woman's every word.

"I've always been really clumsy, I actually killed quite a few plants when I first started out," she admitted with a chuckle. "At first it was really frustrating, but I was so determined to grow this garden even though I have whatever the opposite of a green-thumb is. I did a lot of research and Entrapta helped me design all these planter boxes, and now I'm pretty decent at gardening, if I do say so myself."

"This is all so beautiful, Scorpia! I've always dreamed of having a garden like this someday. I love that you guys have so many beautiful different plants growing, and all these planter boxes make me feel like I'm walking through some kind of magical biodiverse jungle!" Perfuma gushed, looking between the plants and the amazing woman next to her.

"Aww, shucks, well, thank you, you can come look at it anytime I- Oh! Hey, Adora!" Scorpia greeted upon noticing the blonde who was simply standing with a bag of chips by the door.

"Hi guys! You look really pretty, I didn't wanna interrupt! So I just stood here, sorry!" Adora yelled across the yard too loudly. Perfuma giggled while Scorpia's cheeks flushed.

The quarterback told Perfuma before they were picked up that night that she was setting her on a date with Scorpia. She was already sold, remembering her admiration of the older woman in high school. What Adora did not mention was that Scorpia had been handcrafted from Perfuma's dreams.

She looked up at the tall woman stammering nonsense to Adora. Her ex hated when Perfuma hung on her arm for too long, she later learned it was because it was much harder to hit on waitresses with your girlfriend by your side. Meanwhile, Scorpia had offered her arm to Perfuma the moment she led her outside, the blonde didn't know if her heart could handle any more from this sweet woman.

Smiling, she tightened her grip on the buff woman's bicep and dragged her to the porch to end her babbling. Scorpia followed with a grateful smile while Adora moved to take a seat at the outside table.

"Is Catra making all the food?" Perfuma asked with furrowed eyebrows when she realized it was just Adora.

"No, no, I helped. She just kicked me out because she said I was a 'danger to myself and others' whatever that means," Adora mimicked Catra, poorly, with air quotes.

"Hey, hot oil can get **_very_** scary when you're high," Scorpia advised sagely. "Even when you're not high!"

"Speaking of high," Perfuma grinned wickedly, "Anyone wanna help me finish this blunt?" she asked, pulling the remainder of the monstrous blunt from behind her ear.

"I think I'll turn into jelly if I do," Adora moaned from her seat, already a handful of Doritos deep. "Actually," she frowned and stared at her arm inside the bag of chips. "Holy shit it's turning into jelly right now! Guys! Look!" Adora panicked. Scorpia and Perfuma stared at her arm that looked no different.

"I think you're okay, Adora," Perfuma advised gently.

"God, I'll never play football again," Adora wailed. "All because of jelly arms!"

"Oh, Adora, can you pass me a chip?" Scorpia chimed in, interrupting Adora's breakdown.

"Yeah, here," Adora straightened up and moved her hand from the bag, passing a chip to Scorpia. "Now, I don't know what I'm going to do with jelly-oh."

"So, Scorpia, would you like to share the rest of this blunt with me?" Perfuma giggled.

"I would be honored," Scorpia smiled, pulling out a chair at the table for Perfuma and taking the seat beside it.

"Wonderful!" Perfuma sat down and sparked the blunt, taking a huge hit easily.

"Man, it is scary how good you are at that," Scorpia chuckled as she accepted the pass from Perfuma.

"Like I said, it's just part of my routine," Perfuma shrugged, "I used to be a lot angrier and more scared, crippled by fear and anxiety. I was angry _because_ I was scared, and then I started smoking. Suddenly, the angry moments weren't as angry, the scary moments weren't as scary. I felt like I could have thoughts that weren't anxious, or judging myself for getting anxious, just me."

"What about when you're not high?" Scorpia asked softly, exhaling and handing the blunt back to Perfuma.

"I don't have to worry about finding out the answer to that anytime soon," Perfuma giggled with a wink. Scorpia frowned at the answer, starting to put the pieces together. Before she could say anything else on the subject, Catra kicked open the back door with a plate of pancakes in one hand and hashbrowns in the other.

"Food's on, assholes!" Catra announced, setting the plates on the table unceremoniously, "I just gotta go grab silverware and shit," she explained, turning to head back in the house, then noticed the lit blunt.

"Awww, fuck off guys, you couldn't wait for me?" Catra groaned.

"Sorry, Catra," Perfuma giggled and passed the blunt to the other woman. She happily took it in her hands and disappeared back into the house with it. Adora was eyeballing the pancakes and beginning to salivate. Luckily, before she choked on her own drool, Catra reappeared with the necessary plates and utensils. She passed them out to everyone, taking one last drag of the blunt before putting it out in the ashtray.

"Thank you so much for all of this delicious food, Catra!" Perfuma gushed as she began to pile her plate.

"Oh man, Catra's the best cook," Scorpia groaned, already with a mouthful of food. Adora had followed suit, the football players devouring their breakfast for dinner.

"Yeah, yeah, just eat your food," Catra grumbled and started on her own plate. The group of young women devoured their respective meals at a ravenous pace. No further words were exchanged as they attempted to cure their munchies, wondering if there would ever be enough food to satiate a stoned person.

Soon, the entire spread Catra had made was completely gone. Everyone sat contentedly, humming in pleasure.

"I think that was one of your best ones yet," Scorpia complemented her roommate.

"Don't get used to it, you're still in charge of weekend breakfast," Catra reminded her.

"You two live together?" Perfuma asked, leaning her head on Scorpia's shoulder. The older woman blushed deeply, then looked to Catra to answer the question.

"Yeah," she responded bluntly. Perfuma smiled and nodded, seemingly completely content with that answer.

"Cool."

"I wish I lived with Catra," a groan came from Adora. The blonde was completely sideways in her chair, legs and head hanging off either side. Her eyes were closed and she had a hand on her forehead.

"What?" Catra laughed, looking to her side at the ridiculous blonde.

"You have such a cool home, and you have Scorpia, and you have Entrapta, and you have mozzarella sticks. What more could you want?" Adora grinned and Catra shook her head fondly. It wasn't fair that the blonde could still be so adorably oblivious when she was high.

"Tell you what, you can come move in one day if you want," Catra patted the blonde's head reassuringly which appeased the other woman. She glanced over to Scorpia and Perfuma, noticing that her roommate couldn't keep her eyes off the other woman. She grinned wickedly and grabbed Adora's hand to pull her up.

"Come on, I wanna show you something," Catra whispered.

"What?"

" _I wanna show you something,_ " hissed Catra, slightly louder.

"What?" Adora increased her volume after staring at Catra for a few seconds.

"I want to show you something!" she shouted, earning smirks from Perfuma and Scorpia.

"Why didn't you just say that?" Adora laughed and stood up with a stretch. "And you call me a dumbass," the blonde shook her head with a smile.

Catra sighed, but couldn't do anything besides offer her hand to the quarterback. Adora happily took it in her own and allowed Catra to lead her through the weaving planter boxes of the back yard. As they reached the fence line in the farthest corner, a tall oak tree stood.

"That's a big tree," Adora observed.

"Very astute," Catra deadpanned, immediately clambering up the tree.

"Oh, we're climbing?"

"Problem with that?" Catra smirked, already on a branch towards the bottom, lounged out with her chin in her hands. She looked annoying and hot at the same time, and Adora hated it.

"I mean, if you're prepared for me to fall out of this tree, because you got me high, then no problem at all."

"I promise to donate your body to science and assure everyone that I corrupted the star football player. They'll put your story in the papers as a warning to anyone who ever even thinks of smoking weed. 'Kids! This is what could happen to you if you take just one puff of marijuana! Don't be like Adora, say no to hot girls offering you drugs. Even if they're _really_ hot.'"

Before Catra could continue her hilarious bit, the blonde had started climbing up and had clumsily made it to Catra's side. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and Catra could tell that the blonde had scraped her palms trying to climb up. Warmth blossomed inside of her chest and Catra had no idea how she could handle being around this girl without kissing her senseless much longer.

"Well, yeah, that's why I said yes when _you_ offered me drugs, everyone knows that rule," Adora teased.

"I will push you out of this tree," Catra warned.

"Am I supposed to say 'no' to hot girls offering to push me out of trees, too?" the blonde giggled and received a playful shove from Catra.

"Watch it, quarterback," she smirked.

"Something tells me you wouldn't push me out of this tree even if you wanted to," Adora teased, wondering how far she could push her luck.

"Whatever," Catra mumbled and rested her head on Adora's shoulder, "I'm too high to pick on you right now."

Adora straightened up at the feeling of Catra leaning on her, but quickly relaxed and rested her head on her companion's. Her face was hot and she cleared her throat before speaking again.

"Oh, so getting stoned is the only way I can get you to stop calling me names?"

"Maybe if you stopped being a loser, then I wouldn't have to call you so many names," Catra suggested, earning an eye roll from Adora.

"Didn't we make a truce, like, a week ago? Literally for you to stop being a dick?"

"I recall something of the sort," Catra replied nonchalantly, moving her hand to rest on top of Adora's in her lap. Everything in Adora's body froze at that moment, her brain was short-circuiting.

"I try to respect my truces..." Catra mumbled softly, slowly starting to move her fingers. Hesitantly, her fingertips traced across Adora's knuckles, comet trails in their wake, setting her skin alight. The few inches that had been traveled already felt like lightyears, and when Catra's shaky hand slowly slid beneath Adora's, the blonde gasped.

Galaxies began to form as their unsure fingers intertwined; stars, planets, and suns were born, a universe waiting for that one singular moment to set everything into motion. Neither spoke, and with blazing cheeks they each tried to calm their racing hearts. Catra tried to tell herself she was being stupid, that it was just holding hands, and that she was way too smooth to be freaking out. 

Then Adora stroked Catra's hand gently with her thumb, and the brunette accepted in that moment that her heart rate would never be stable again. She squeezed Adora's hand and they both released a content sigh. They weren't sure if either of them would say anything about it, but overanalysis could happen later.

"Do you ever think about aliens?" Adora asked, breaking the silence unexpectedly. She continued to hold Catra's hand and made no effort to change their position.

"Yeah," Catra chuckled, "I mean I definitely believe in them, if that's what you're asking. Everything is just too vast and shit for something not to be out there. Honestly, I fantasize about traveling to some far away planet and just kicking it with some dope ass aliens that aren't, like this," Catra gestured vaguely with her free hand. They could see over the fence of Scorpia's yard, lights of the city laid out before them sporadically, allowing a sky full of brilliant stars to be seen with the lack of light pollution.

"You would just go to a completely different planet? Not even another country first?" Adora laughed.

"Go big or stay home," the brunette replied.

"I really would like to meet an alien. I dunno, but sometimes I'm scared of that thought. Like, I think that aliens are what so many people think that gods and stuff are. I feel like if I met an alien it would be a little like meeting an angel, something that is just physically beyond comprehension, and just this energy that's like...woosh," Adora explained.

"That's a really dope theory though. I used to think that each star in the sky was another planet when I was a kid, I tried to name them all," Catra chuckled at the memory, "I really liked climbing trees to look at the stars, even then. Now, I'm starting to wonder if maybe each of them is a dope ass alien angel. Maybe I was naming intergalactic seraphs all along."

"You think they fall in love?" Adora asked softly.

"I mean, doesn't everyone?"

"I dunno..." Adora sighed, "I think that if I were some perfect and all powerful-being, wouldn't love be a flaw? Like you're supposed to be selfless, and isn't it selfish to love?"

"I don't think it's selfish to give your heart to someone, it honestly seems like the most selfless act to me, ever," Catra answered, with conviction in every word. Adora sat for a moment, thinking about her words. Thoughts swirled through her mind, a vortex of confusion and questions, emotions she had never felt before. All of it forming at the epicenter, their interlocked hands, the birthplace of these feelings that were so unfamiliar, yet exciting. Finally, like an anchor, she felt herself pulled out of the black hole of her thoughts.

Catra squeezed her hand.

"Hey, Adora?" the smaller girl lifted her head from Adora's shoulder to meet conflicted blue eyes. "We're really high right now, sitting in a tree, looking at the stars. Let's just let this be what it is right now, okay? There's time for all these thoughts tomorrow, but I would really like tonight to be tonight. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that sounds perfect," Adora smiled back at the sincere woman, wanting to wonder why she could calm the never ending radio static in Adora's mind, or at least tune into one channel. Either way, like Catra said, those were thoughts for tomorrow and right now she was holding hands with a really cute girl. The rest of the thoughts could wait.

Catra couldn't take her own advice as she settled back onto Adora's shoulder, unfortunately. As she stared up at a beautiful night sky, beside the girl of her literal dreams, she couldn't ignore her most pressing thought. The thought that had been eating away at her since she put on that stupid ass, furry suit in the first place.

How long could she wait?


	11. Hi, Can I Ask You a Few Personal Questions?

"Catra, how many more photos do we have to take?" Bow's muffled groan came from the inside of the mascot uniform as he maintained the splits position on the grass.

"Just ten more minutes, and then we can switch out. Adora is supposed to come around four," Catra answered, snapping more pictures with her camera. "Now do my victory pose!" she instructed and Bow stood up, putting his fist into the air while placing one hand on his hip and looking up to the sky.

It was Wednesday after school, and Catra was trying to get the perfect pictures for Adora for the project. There was no way she was going to let the quarterback down on the project.

She and Bow had already taken almost a hundred photos in just the past hour. The cheerleading team had an early practice that morning for the sake of taking photos, but no one else on the team was aware of that. Bow had to tell some creative stories to the team to get them to agree, but Catra managed to persuade him to do it by agreeing to an additional day a week of matching clothes.

Catra had already made Bow go through every possible pose and location on campus already and as she took the photos of him in the final pose, she felt confident in the fact that Adora would have a wide variety to choose from. Gesturing to Bow to relax, Catra looked through the photos she had taken, smiling in satisfaction at the way they turned out.

"Alright, I think we got it all, let's head back to the locker room and we can-"

"Catra!" A voice called from across the field, and the pair turned to see who the owner of it was. On the other side of the field Adora stood, football pads still on, waving excitedly and starting to jog over towards the pair.

"Oh, fuck!" Catra hissed and looked at Bow in the mascot uniform. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, what do we do?" Catra panicked, trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

"Catra! You're gonna need to find whatever chill you have, real quick," Bow sternly told her through the foam head. "Everything will be fine, just remember, you have to leave to go help Scorpia with the garden," he reminded her. "We just have to get back to the equipment room and she still has to change too, in the locker room, which is nowhere near the equipment room, so _please_ calm the fuck down." Bow begged, quietly and firmly, silencing himself as the quarterback journalist approached.

"Catra, hey! I didn't think I'd catch you when you were taking pictures," Adora smiled warmly at her, trying to hide the fact that she had sprinted to the back field from the main one as soon as practice ended.

"Oh yeah, we were just finishing up, I was about to head out to get back home and help Scorpia out with some stuff in the garden. The pictures turned out really well, I think you picked a good model for the story," Catra chuckled, looking at Bow who tried to channel his inner Bright Moon Wildcat and pantomimed flipping his hair. Adora grinned and turned to look at the mascot.

"Well, I wouldn't expect anything else from the star of the school, hi by the way," she approached the mascot and gave him a big hug. Acting on instinct, Bow squeezed his friend back tightly, the two sharing a long hug. Catra stared between the two and knew she shouldn't have felt jealous, but there was something about the fact that Adora's arms weren't wrapped around her in that way that made her insides churn. She wasn't jealous of Bow, but she was definitely jealous of that fuzzy foam monstrosity hugging Adora.

"Yeah, very photogenic," Catra grumbled. "Anyway, I was about to head back to find Bow to tell him goodbye. You ready Wildcat?" Catra asked with a bit of a bite, causing Bow to release Adora and nod quickly.

"Perfect, I gotta get changed and rinsed off anyways," Adora beamed and the trio started walking back towards the locker rooms, "I'm super bummed out that you can't stay for the interview. I've been working on these questions for a while, plus it would be fun to have you there!"

"Yeah I would love to stay, but Scorpia has a lot of weeds she needs help pulling," Catra sighed.

"I love pulling weeds!" Adora blurted out quickly.

"Really?" Catra asked with an inquisitive eyebrow, trying to figure out if the jock was joking.

"Yes! My mom, er uh well I guess she's not really my mom, cause I'm adopted, but yeah, anyway; my mom, Razz, she's really cool and like kinda out there, but she used to have me help her pull weeds all the time and always made it really fun!" Adora rambled quickly, rubbing her neck. "I dunno, I really like how it feels to help out, and she showed me how to find the weeds that were dangerous for the plants we were growing, and then the ones that were just 'misunderstood' as she said," Adora laughed nervously, words jumbled together.

"Are you asking to come over and pull weeds after?" disbelief filled Catra's words.

"Yes?"

"I mean, if you want, dork," Catra chuckled. "Sounds like a date."

"Perfect, it's a date then," Adora beamed, causing Catra to smile in return.

"I'll go tell Bow you're here before I leave, so I'll see you later. Text me when you're done, Adora," Catra told her with a smile as she prepared to split off from the blonde, but was grabbed before she could.

"See you later, Catra," Adora gave another stupid grin and pulled Catra into a hug. Catra felt her face turn crimson as her head was nestled against Adora's neck. After staying in the hug for a while, the two pulled away with the mascot dragging Catra into the equipment room while the quarterback stood there in a dumb stupor.

"Catra has a _cru-ush_ , Catra has a _cru-ush_ ," Bow sang as they walked in, taking the helmet off and handing it to Catra as he began the process of taking off the uniform.

"Shut up, Bow," Catra growled, going to put her camera away with the rest of her stuff and change into her underclothes for the mascot uniform.

"You literally just invited her to pull weeds with you."

"And? What's your point?"

"Who _does_ that?! Besides lesbians, clearly," Bow mumbled. "You aren't even helping Scorpia pull weeds in the first place," he reminded her, causing Catra's eyes to widen in realization.

"Oh, fuck."

Catra began to panic, but before she could get too far Bow shut her down. "Start getting changed Catra," he told her.

Bow then took Catra's phone out of her pocket and brought it to his face, holding down the home button and said, "Call Scorpia," into the speaker. He turned back to Catra and gave her a look with a gesture to the clothing. "I'm calling Scorpia and explaining this all to her, now you'll owe us both one, just get changed quick!" Bow ordered and Catra finally started moving.

"I really am starting to feel like a superhero with my secret identity..." Catra mumbled to herself as she began changing into the mascot uniform.

"Then why am I always saving you?" Bow shot back, then perked up into the phone. "He-ey Scorpia, it's Bow," he began and gave Catra a 'hurry up' gesture as he walked to the corner of the room. Catra quickly put on the pieces of the costume, wrestling with the cumbersome suit, but by this point no one could put it on faster than her. She took a large drink of water before putting the helmet on and pulling on the paws. Bow finished informing Scorpia of the situation, hanging up the call, and walked over to Catra by the door.

"All ready Bright Moon Wildcat?" Bow teased and Catra nodded.

"Ready to translate?" she asked softly from the inside of the suit, she hated talking in the mascot uniform, it ruined the effect for her.

"Well, if you're gonna be talking that softly then I don't know," Bow teased but Catra didn't laugh due to how nervous she was. In fact, the mascot was confident she would pass out in the suit. Even with his friend covered in foam, Bow sensed her unease and put a comforting arm around her as they approached the doors to exit.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. It's just Adora, and she likes the Bright Moon Wildcat as well as the person inside of the suit, so just take a deep breathe and let's go knock her socks off. Okay?" Bow said assuringly and Catra took his advice, nodding in reply.

"Let's go," she said, pushing the equipment room doors open to reveal the aforementioned blonde with damp hair, changed into a t-shirt and joggers.

"Hey!" Adora grinned at the pair, "You guys ready?"

Catra nodded enthusiastically inside the suit, taking on the Wildcat persona and Bow nodded,"Yup, let's head into the office, coach said we could use it," he directed, pulling out a key and leading the pair down the hall to the empty office. The Wildcat held her arm out for Adora to escort her down the hall, the blonde happily accepting.

"You know, I don't think this follows the guidelines of professionalism," she teased as they went to sit at the desk Bow cleared off. The Wildcat just gave a shrug in reply causing Adora to chuckle. Catra pulled a chair out for Adora, holding her arm out for the other girl to sit.

"Man, you're really putting on the charm today aren't you?"

Bow rolled his eyes at the two's flirting as he took a seat, accepting that it would be a much longer interview than Catra promised. His phone buzzed with the notification of a text, face lighting up when he saw who it was from.

**Queen Glimmer: Hey Bow, what're you up to?**

**Bow: I'm currently translating for Adora and her lover.**

**Queen Glimmer: When did you learn how to speak lesbian? Catra doesn't know how?**

Bow audibly snorted in amusement at the text, causing a glance from the two on the other end of the desk to which Bow waved them off with the mention of a funny meme.

**Bow: Ha Ha very funny Glimmer. I'm translating for the Bright Moon Wildcat for Adora's interview.**

**Queen Glimmer: Excuse you, I am a riot, Bow! Also, oh shit, does that mean you're gonna have to translate a bunch of their flirting too?**

**Bow: Oh my god, I didn't even think about that. I'm waiting for the two of them to stop right now actually. I just want to hurry up and get some food, I'm starving.**

**Queen Glimmer: You wanna go grab some food after this? We can get dumplings!**

**Bow: You're a lifesaver.**

**Queen Glimmer: I know. pick me up when you're done ;)**

**Bow: Of course, your majesty.**

**Queen Glimmer: Don't forget it, see you soon!**

**Bow: See you soon :)**

With a smile Bow locked his phone and looked up to see Adora sitting across from him and the Bright Moon Wildcat sitting beside her, both of them staring directly at him.

"What?" Bow asked and Adora grinned.

"Whose got you all smiley?" the journalist asked.

"Huh? No one, Glimmer just texted me to ask if I wanted to get food with her after," Bow answered and Adora's eyebrow rose.

"You guys are getting food together? Without me? What, are you dating now?" she gasped and Bow felt his cheeks warm.

"What? No no, I just...we just...she offered dumplings, like just now, do you want to come?" Bow spit out.

"Ohhhhh, why didn't you say that in the first place? I love dumplings. I'd totally go with you guys, but I'm actually going to Catra's after this," she admitted and Bow grinned.

"Yeah, Catra mentioned you were coming over, she was really excited, it was actually really adorable," Bow said, earning a blush from Adora and a swift kick in the shin from Catra under the table. Bow remained undeterred, his calves were made of steel and a subtle foam kick would not stop him from embracing the opportunity to embarrass his good friend.

"Really?" Adora asked sheepishly, glancing at the Bright Moon Wildcat for a moment and remembering why they were there in the first place. "Um, well anyway, I'll see her then. So are you guys ready to start?"

The Wildcat nodded excitedly, but inside, Catra's cheeks were burning and she was ready to get the conversation off of her and onto...well her. Bow smirked in triumph and smiled sweetly at Adora. "Yeah, let's get this started, I'm starved."

Adora nodded and opened her notebook with a click of her pen. "Alright, question number one: How does it feel to be the Bright Moon High Wildcat?"

Catra took a moment to think before answering then leaned over and started whispering to Bow who began to repeat Catra's words out loud: "It feels like, being a superhero honestly. I'm always welcomed like a hero, with all these cheers and applause, but then the next day I walk by those same people in the hallway and don't get a second glance. It's an incredible feeling, being two completely different people."

"So you're telling me, that how you act as the Bright Moon Wildcat is completely different from who you are outside of the costume?" Adora asked and the mascot nodded in reply.

"Alright then, and exactly who am I conducting this interview with?" Adora asked, eyebrow raised.

"You asked for an interview with the Bright Moon Wildcat, and that's who you're talking to," Bow repeated but paused a bit before adding the last word: "...princess," he deadpanned, shooting a glare at the cocky looking mascot.

"Right," Adora chuckled. "So, I'm not going to be receiving much information on the person inside the suit it seems, which is fine. By the way, feel free to pass on any questions that get too personal, I completely understand, I'm not trying to like figure out your identity, um, I don't want you to think that's what I'm doing, so..." The mascot nodded in reply and Adora smiled in relief. "Awesome! Okay, so next question, how did you become the mascot? And more importantly, how did you do it in secret?" Adora asked.

Bow smiled at the question, remembering how Catra got roped into being the mascot, wondering just how much she would admit to the interviewer. Catra leaned over and began whispering her answer which Bow started repeating: "Trust me when I say that I had no desire to be the mascot whatsoever, but I've been in dance since I was eight years old, and my Freshman year, I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, right place, right time depending on how you look at it. Anyway, they needed someone to fill in, I fit the costume, and I agreed to do it under the circumstance that no one knew who I was, which seemed way too embarrassing. After that, they asked me to be the full time mascot, and that's how it's been ever since."

Adora wrote everything down as Bow reiterated the whispered words, nodding to signal she was listening. "Who would have guessed that the most spirited person in the school was actually reluctant to be the mascot in the first place?"

"Me," Bow mumbled under his breath, thinking of how much Catra was against school spirit outside of the costume. She owned exactly zero pieces of school clothing, besides the uniform, and wanted to keep it that way

Catra shoved Bow in the shoulder and the head cheerleader grinned cheekily while Adora giggled, completely missing Bow's comment. "Cute. Now, this is a question I'm sure everyone is very curious about, how come you don't want to reveal your identity?"

"I'm scared of how people will react," Catra whispered to Bow, "I'm really not a fan of the spotlight, crowds give me anxiety. The thought of being surrounded by so many people is not something I'm comfortable with, at all. If I were to take off this costume, I'd have to live both of those lives at once, and I couldn't handle all that attention and recognition on a daily basis. I'm a very private person, and I hate the idea of being the center of attention, I feel like my popularity has gotten so high at this point that I would be one of the most talked about students in the school. I truly could not handle that."

"Wow," Adora looked at her in surprise, forgetting to write, "I just...wow. You're incredible," she complimented, causing Catra's cheeks to heat up and her to shrug it off. "Seriously though, the fact that you do this, regardless of all of your fears, that's amazing. I can't wait to write this article," she beamed and started looking over her notes to ask the next question.

The trio continued the interview, Adora asking more general questions about how the mascot maintained the facade, when she practiced, what she was like as a student, all of which Catra answered as honestly as possible.

Finally, at the end of the interview, Adora stood up and beamed brightly. "Thank you so much, this has been amazing. I'm really excited to get this article done, and those pictures Catra took of you I'm sure are wonderful! Thank you again so much, and you too, Bow, I really really appreciate it."

"Of course, Adora," Bow smiled, "this was fun." Catra nodded excitedly in agreement and held out her arms to hug Adora. Melting into the embrace, the two remained interlocked, until Bow cleared his throat and they separated with a jump.

"So uh, if you guys are going to stay here and cuddle that's fine," Bow announced, picking up his bag, "but I have some dumplings calling my name, so lock the door when you leave!" He waved and left, sighing in relief when he was finally out of the room.

As the door closed behind him, Adora faced the mascot once again. She looked slightly nervous and began wringing her hands together. "Yeah, so thank you again for all of this really. I can't wait to write this article, honestly. I'm actually not the greatest writer in the world, well not exactly, it's just that I write a lot and it's so fast and jumbled because I'm trying to keep up with all these thoughts just consistently driving through my brain," Adora explained while pacing back and forth, leaving Catra wondering exactly what the blonde was trying to say.

"I'm not amazing with speaking clearly, or easily, or making my thoughts make sense. That's why I love writing so much, even though it's so hard for me. I'm able to fine tune and fine tune until the words sound exactly right, and I can say exactly what I mean. Ms. Netossa always tells me that I plan too much, that I'm too calculated, that I don't trust my heart enough to speak from it blatantly. So, uh, here goes," she took a deep breath and stopped her pacing to face the mascot.

"I know this is weird to say, but after all these years, and whatever weird connection we've made, it's been really important to me," Adora insisted, face bright red, but refusing to break eye contact with the foam Wildcat head. "I like you. The girl under that mask, I've really grown to like her, and I think it's safe to say I have a crush on her. I find you to be just really amazing, when you hug me it feels...fucking awesome, and I know this isn't very eloquent or whatever, but I just need you to know," Adora stumbled over her words, but each one was spoken in earnest. Catra was stunned, completely frozen at the blonde's confession.

"The whole reason that I'm telling you all of this, is because you deserve to know. You also deserve to know, that there's someone else," she mumbled, eyes flitting to the floor then back to the mascot. "She's real, she's here, and I think I might have a chance, but like I said, I've liked you for so long," Adora rambled, hands dancing in the air as she tried to articulate her point.

"What I'm trying to say, I guess, is that I need to see who's underneath this helmet," Adora pleaded, stepping right up to Catra and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You need to decide soon, because I can't wait for you forever, okay?" the blonde asked softly, desperately trying to make eye contact through the comically large eyes of the perpetually roaring Wildcat head.

Catra could only nod slowly, eliciting a sad smile from the football player. Adora gently touched her head to the foam one, holding the position for a moment before stepping away.

"I'll see you at the next game," she said and picked up her items, heading out of the room quickly, adrenaline from pouring out her guts wearing off.

The door of the equipment room closed behind her with a resonating bang. Catra tried to make sense of everything Adora had just told her. Could she be talking about Catra? All the time they had spent together recently played on a loop in her head, she tried to make sense of if the blonde was starting to see her as more than a friend, trying to understand if Adora meant that she had feelings for Catra. It should have seemed obvious, but her and Adora hadn't even started talking about feelings for each other; she still didn't know how close of friends they were.

Horror filled Catra's mind at the thought of Adora potentially having a crush on someone else. That one thought spiraled into a million worst case scenarios, images of someone else making Adora laugh, or smile, or holding her hand. Her frustration grew to a boiling point, causing Catra to tear off the foam head and throw it on the floor in a fit of rage.

"Fuck you!" Catra growled at the stupid foam head staring at her from the ground, punching one of the supply lockers, the metal resonating at the contact. She was too frustrated to care about the immediate shot of pain in her hand, cursing herself for feeling so trapped by an exaggerated cat suit, that she couldn't take off the helmet and kiss the blonde senseless.

"Even as two people I'm still not good enough for her, even in this dumb costume I'm just a bigger pussy," she sighed and started removing the rest of the uniform, groaning when she remembered that she invited Adora over, to fucking help pull weeds of all things. Grumbling to herself, Catra packed up the uniform and headed out the door, making sure to lock it so Bow didn't kill her.

Catra dashed to her car and sped home to beat Adora, knowing she still had to act like everything was fine, like her heart hadn't just been crushed. Like Adora hadn't just told her point blank that she was interested in someone else. She had to pretend that it was fine.

The mascot shot through her front door with barely a word to Entrapta who was typing furiously away on the couch. She bulleted down the hallway to her room, haphazardly throwing her duffle bag with the suit in the corner of her room. Catra quickly changed into a tank top and cut-off denim shorts, tying up her hair as she rushed right back out of her room and into the backyard. Scorpia was already in the garden, weeding away with her ridiculously large sunhat, because _'Skincare is no joke, wildcat!_ '.

"Hey, Catra!" Scorpia waved. Catra immediately launched into the garden, a grunt of acknowledgement to Scorpia as she tried to make sure her hands and clothes had a realistic amount of dirt on them.

"Did the interview go well?" Scorpia continued to chat, completely unfazed by Catra's erratic behavior, it was pretty common for the younger woman.

"Yeah," Catra grumbled, "Adora will be over any minute, she's probably coming through the back, I just wanna make sure I look garden-y," she explained.

" _Oooooh,_ very clever! Well you already have a bunch of dirt on you so I think you'll be _juuuuuuuuust_ fi- Oh! Hey, Adora!" Scorpia waved, looking past Catra to see the blonde standing in the backyard, having just closed the back gate.

"Hey!" Adora waved sheepishly, for some reason she had her bookbag with her and it looked extra lumpy. She approached the pair, and smiled warmly at Catra and Scorpia covered in dirt, kneeling in the planter boxes.

"Looks like you guys have been working hard," Adora chuckled, earning a blush from Catra, she then noticed the tight tank top the brunette was wearing and forgot how to breathe. Toned arms caught the light of the afternoon sun, the shirt rising to reveal abs that caused all the blood to rush to Adora's brain.

"Yeah, Catra and I have been out here _all_ afternoon, we appreciate you coming over!" Scorpia beamed.

"Yeah, thanks Adora," Catra smiled softly at the blonde, looking back to the weeds she was pulling. If Adora had been looking at anything besides the skin revealed from Catra tank top, she would have seen there were literally no weeds pulled near Catra whatsoever.

"Of course, yeah, uh I'm just gonna go, go inside real quick and uh-set down my bag and say hi to Entrapta, yeah," Adora quickly spit out, rushing into the house from the back door, causing Scorpia and Catra to share a look, shrug, and continue working.

Once inside the house, Adora took a minute to compose herself. She knew the image of Catra's surprisingly muscular arms would be burned into her brain. Slapping herself gently in the cheek, Adora walked into the living room to see Entrapta working diligently on her laptops. The purple haired girl didn't even look up as the blonde walked down the hallway, not even realizing she was there.

Adora made her way down to the middle bedroom, the room she now knew was Catra's. Slipping inside, the blonde opened up her book bag with a dumb smile, pulling out her folded up letterman jersey. She knew that it was a risk, leaving the jacket for the other girl, but she wanted Catra to know she was interested. Plus, if Catra wasn't interested, she could totally play it off like it was a friendly gesture in return for the hoodie Adora still hadn't returned. Adora was really hoping that the other girl would wear it though, the thought of Catra wearing it around school made Adora lose her mind.

Dumb smile still on her face, Adora placed the red and white jacket gently on Catra's bed. She pulled out a folded up piece of paper from her bag as well, then gently placed it in the pocket of the letterman, giddy over the thought of Catra reading it. Finally, Adora stood up, satisfied with her surprise for the other girl.

Before leaving the room, the football player couldn't resist a glance around. She smiled at the minimal decorations that Catra kept, mostly band and skate posters, but another wall of printed pictures that Adora assumed Catra took. As her eyes continued to scan, they landed on the duffle bag in the corner of the room. The bag was half opened with bulky objects partially spilling out.

Adora stepped towards the duffle slowly, the small shadow in the back of her mind growing larger with each step. The suspicion that was looming ever since Glimmer first mentioned it rang through her mind, and when she saw that it was indeed paws sticking out of the bag, and two ears attached to a helmet inside, it was confirmed.

Catra was the Bright Moon High Wildcat.


	12. Last Life

"I _told_ you it was a lot of food, Bow," Glimmer sang at her friend as she buckled herself into the driver's seat. Bow's body was sprawled in the passenger seat, head resting against the window. A pile of to-go boxes sat in the cheerleader's lap, rising and falling with his slow breaths.

"I thought you meant, like, a normal amount of a lot of food!" he groaned and closed his eyes. Glimmer laughed at her passenger as she pulled her phone from her pocket to turn on music for the ride. As she looked through her song selections, three notifications appeared in quick succession at the top of her screen.

**Favorite Dumbass: Glimmer!!!**

**Favorite Dumbass: Fuck Glimmer fuck idk what to do can I call you?**

**Favorite Dumbass: Please please call me like rn rn or else I can't pick up.**

"What the hell?" Glimmer mumbled to herself. She glanced at Bow, who didn't notice as he settled completely into his food coma, so she pressed call on Adora's contact; the line barely rang once before she picked up.

" _Glimmer! Oh, thank Mara that you called! I am freaking out, I'm in Catra's bedroom and I'm freaking out,"_ Adora urgently informed Glimmer before she could even ask what was going on.

"Woah, woah, slow down. You're in Catra's bedroom? What the hell happened? _Ohhhhhhhh shit_ are you guys fu-"

" _Catra is the Bright Moon High Wildcat."_

Glimmer paused to register Adora's words, then turned to Bow who was basically asleep in the passenger seat.

"Are you sure?" Glimmer asked slowly, gaze never leaving Bow's. If Catra was indeed the Wildcat, that meant that Bow knew she was, too. That would mean that her best friend of all time, the boy whose shoulder she had cried on, who she went to every single dance and formal with, who she had sleepovers with, had lied to her. Not just to her either, to Adora, their other best friend, the girl who was so insecure about her crush on both Catra and the Wildcat...

" _I was leaving her my letterman in her room and I saw the mascot uniform and it all makes sense, fuck, Glimmer, I don't know what to do. I can't believe this was all some sick joke... fuck, I don't even know what her plan was. Probably embarrass me in front of the whole school, reveal herself, and make fun of how easy I am to manipulate... Shit, shit, I'm still in her room, fuck!"_ the rambling abruptly ended leaving only fumbling that could be heard through the phone, curses mumbled under Adora's breath. It sounded like she was...running?

"Adora? You good?" Glimmer asked, "Are you breathing?"

_"Yeah, I just ran into the bathroom, oh fuck fuck fuck I left my jacket in her room," Adora huffed, out of breath, "Dumbass."_

"How did you forget your jacket!?" Glimmer hissed, "I mean I know it's you, Adora, but seriously? Now is the worst time for you to forget something _that_ important! What're you gonna do? Confront her? She's gonna know you were in her room now!" the pink haired girl began to panic as well.

" _Glimmer,"_ Adora began, very calmly _, "I, am, freaking out right now, my anxiety is off the charts, the girl I like and the other girl that I like are both liars, and, oh! Guess what? They're also the same fucking person! All of those thoughts combined are overwhelming me just_ ** _slightly!_** _"_ Adora whisper yelled through the phone, " _So, if you could_ ** _please_** _cut me some slack, I wasn't aware I was going to need a fucking Ritalin to hang out with the girl I liked this afternoon!"_

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Glimmer apologized quickly, "But, seriously, what're you gonna do? Can you go snag the jacket?"

" _Yeah, I guess I gotta try,"_ she sighed. " _Hopefully Catra isn't loo-"_ she was cut off by a muffled voice on the other end that Glimmer couldn't hear. Suddenly the call disconnected and Glimmer groaned. She knew that the quarterback would call her again as soon as she could, but now she would be anxiously awaiting that call back.

Glimmer took a deep breath and tried to process the entire phone call, but no matter how worried she was about Adora, she couldn't stop thinking of Bow. Anger began to spread throughout the young woman's body, hurt and betrayal washing over her in crashing waves. Her best friend _lied_ to her, the person she wanted around for the rest of her life. Her mind kept going back to, ' _why?'._

Her thoughts ran around in circles, trying to figure out why he would lie to his best friends for so long. Finally, Glimmer realized that the only one who could answer those questions, was passed out beside her with a stomach full of dumplings. She glanced to the takeout boxes in Bow's lap and before her mind could catch up, her hands moved. Automatically, she picked up the takeout box, opened it, and barely registered what she did next.

Bow awoke to an open box, full of dumplings, smashed into his face, "Agh! Glimmer! Why'd you do that?!" he groaned, removing the box from his face and wiping the large chunks of food off and back into the box.

"Sorry, I thought maybe you were _lying_ about being full earlier," Glimmer huffed accusingly. Bow gave her a quizzical look, trying to understand why his friend seemed so upset.

"Glimmer, what's going on?" he asked gently, reaching out to touch her shoulder, but she slapped his hand away.

"How _could you,_ Bow? How could you lie to me? To Adora? I thought we were your best friends, the Best Friend Squad?" Glimmer glared at him with a wounded expression that shattered Bow's heart. As soon as he opened his mouth to ask what she was talking about, it all clicked.

"Oh. You mean-"

"Yeah. _Oh,"_ she mocked in an exaggerated deep voice, "I don't understand how you could lie to us for that long? Why couldn't you have just said that Catra was the Wildcat and-"

"And then what Glimmer?" Bow interrupted right back, "Betray one of my other close friends? I begged and begged Catra to take off that suit, _for years_ , but it was never my secret to tell. Do I agree with what she did? No. Do I stand by my friends? Yes. Catra is my friend too, Glimmer. She doesn't have anyone else at school besides the little bit of time she had Scorpia there! You can't blame this all on me!"

"I know, but you let Adora suffer!" Glimmer poked him hard in the middle of the chest, "Also, Catra isn't here right now, so you're the only person I _can_ be mad at!" she snapped, tossing her hair before facing the steering wheel again.

"Look, I'm sorry, but at the beginning it really did just start as Catra filling in for the mascot. She didn't want anyone to know it was her, and I think she not only gained the confidence to dance in front of crowds in the costume, but the confidence to act on her feelings for Adora, too. I know it wasn't right, and I wish I could have told you both, really, but _please_ understand that Catra had a lot of her own reasons she didn't tell anyone either. I'm really, truly sorry, Glimmer," Bow apologized with sincerity in his eyes, earning a glance from his friend in the driver's seat.

"It doesn't even make any sense, though. Why would she hide for this long? _Clearly_ , Adora likes her too," Glimmer sighed while vaguely tossing her hands.

"How'd you even find out?" Bow frowned.

"Adora told me."

"Catra told her?"

"Not exactly..." Glimmer trailed off, looking up at the ceiling.

"Glimmer," Bow cooly stated, "how did Adora find out?"

" _Well_ ," Glimmer began, looking back at him, eliciting a groan from Bow.

"Did Adora go into her room?" Bow asked with narrowed eyes, and Glimmer's sheepish grin was answer enough.

"You can't just invade people's privacy like that, Glimmer! Did you tell Adora that she was totally overstepping?"

"She's a fucking _lesbian,_ Bow! She was just trying to do something gay and sweet, I mean it's _Adora_! Of course she's gonna leave her letterman jacket for her crush to wear around school," Glimmer groaned in exasperation.

"She was leaving Catra her letterman jacket?" Bow gasped in glee. "That, is so precious," he whispered.

"I know," Glimmer grumbled and started the car, pulling out of the parking lot quickly.

"Are you okay?" Bow asked gently, starting to wipe off his food covered neck and face with his shirt.

"I'm still mad at you, and I'm really worried about Adora," Glimmer snapped at him, then sighed. "But, I'm okay. I'm mostly just sad that my best friend lied to me," she admitted. Bow opened his mouth to speak, thought about it, and closed it. Glimmer needed some time, and maybe he did too. He could only hope that Catra and Adora would be okay.

"Adora?" a voice called from down the hall outside of the bathroom. Adora quickly hung up on her friend and slipped out the bathroom door, heading down the hall to meet a confused Catra at the end.

"Oh hey, there you are! Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or anything, we just wondered where you went. You okay?" Catra asked, eyes sincerely looking into Adora's.

"Yeah, I just had a uh-contact issue. All good now," she lied as smoothly as possible. The brunette looked at her strangely then shrugged. Adora wondered if Catra knew she didn't even wear contacts.

"No worries. Ready to pull some weeds?" she beamed, and Adora put on her best fake smile.

"Yeah, totally."

The weed pulling did not go well.

Scorpia quickly noticed the tension between the pair. They each picked opposite ends of the garden and somehow managed to remain turned away from one another the entire time. Every attempt to engage in conversation was quickly shot down.

"So, Adora, did your interview go well?" Scorpia inquired cheerfully.

"Yes. It was fine," she replied shortly, offering no other information.

"Alright," Scorpia sighed as she continued tending the plants. She then directed her attention to her roommate, knowing she could get a complaint from her at least. Catra and complaining went together like Entrapta and technology. 

"And you got all those Wildcat pictures, how'd that go Catra?"

"Yeah, how did that go, _Catra?"_ Adora practically spit.

"Umm, it was fine. No big deal," Catra shrugged, shooting a pained and longing look at the blonde who was furiously pulling at intrusive plants.

" _Ohhhh-kaaaaay,"_ Scorpia said, deciding to surrender her attempts. The trio continued pulling weeds for almost an hour before the older woman called it a day.

"Ladies, thank you so much for all your help. You two should head inside now, get some lemonade, thanks again, really, thank you," Scorpia ushered the two away from her garden, hands on their backs as she forcefully steered them to the back door. If they 'helped' any more they would start tearing up the actual plants that were supposed to be growing in the garden.

Catra and Adora entered the house without saying anything to one another, both frozen next to the back door. The brunette shuffled her feet, while the quarterback tapped her fingers against her thigh in unrhythmic syncopations.

"I have to go home," Adora blurted out quickly, offering no follow up to her sudden statement.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sure. Do you want me to walk you out-" Catra began, but the blonde was already headed towards the front door.

"No, it's okay, I just need to go help my mom... bake a pie," Adora blatantly lied and rushed out the front door, leaving Catra standing in the kitchen, watching the door that Adora had slammed so quickly. Her heart dropped into her ass at the cold exit, and she wanted to sink into the floor to disappear forever.

"Idiot, of course she doesn't want to be around you," Catra mumbled, stalking to her room. Her mind returned to Adora's earlier confession to the mascot. Obviously, she was rushing off to talk to whoever her crush was and didn't know how to let Catra down. Especially since the brunette hadn't actually told Adora how she felt, maybe then she could at least get a proper rejection.

Catra flung her door open and went into autopilot, flinging herself onto her bed with barely a glance. The only difference was an unidentified lump she felt on her mattress. She pulled it out from underneath her, and was hit with the smell of woodsy cologne she recognized immediately as Adora's. It was a red letterman jacket with white sleeves, the varsity letters and academic achievements decorating the jacket.

As soon as she laid her eyes on the clothing article, Catra knew right away that she had fucked up. Her eyes flicked to the duffle bag in the corner of her room, landing on the protruding foam wildcat head.

"Fuck," Catra whispered, pulling out her phone. She pulled up Adora's contact information and called the blonde, but was sent to voicemail after the first ring. "Fuck!"

She immediately went to press call again, but decided against it. If she tried to call Adora when she didn't want to talk, she might block her number and then Catra would be even more screwed than she already was. The dancer tried to think of the situation logically; Adora knew that she was the mascot, the same mascot that she had confessed she had a crush on earlier that day, but Catra did not reveal herself, even after Adora poured her heart out, after years of flirting with the girl as a giant cartoon Wildcat.

Adora discovered Catra's true identity and was upset. Maybe she hated the idea of Catra being the Wildcat, maybe Adora was appalled at the truth and could never love someone like Catra. Or maybe she was upset that she was lied to.

Instead of taking off the suit, though, and maybe giving herself a chance, Catra let Adora doubt herself. She let the quarterback question everything, and her final chance to do the right thing, she completely blew.

"How are you so fucking stupid?" Catra groaned and fell back onto her bed once again, still clutching the quarterback's jacket. Tears welled in her eyes that she desperately tried to fight, and the letterman felt like her only lifeline. She held it so close to her chest, rocking slightly, and willing the item of clothing to somehow bring the blonde back to her, to tell Adora she was sorry. 

During her rocking, a folded up piece of paper fell out of the pockets that she noticed right away. She picked it up with a sniffle and unfolded it to reveal a piece of paper, torn poorly from a notebook, with messy writing scrawled onto it.

_Hey Catra,_

_I know I still haven't returned your hoodie, and honestly, I maaaaaay be putting it off because it makes me think of you, and I like thinking about you. :) I figured I could maybe return the favor, though._

_I'm really really glad that we've started getting closer and all this time we've spent together has meant so much to me, Catra._ _I would really like it if you wore my letterman jacket around school and in public._

_Only if you want to though!_

_I know that sometimes people assume and say things, but I don't really care about that stuff._ _I'll totally understand if you don't want to wear it though, really! Some people might think that we're dating, so I won't be offended at all if you don't want to wear it!_

_I guess, what I'm saying is, I wouldn't mind if people thought some of those things about us, and I guess, if you don't mind either, maybe you can wear it around sometime?_

_-Adora_

"You're such an idiot," Catra groaned to herself, clutching the paper tightly. "She liked _you_! It was you, it was always you, and you ruined it!" Catra cried. It all fell into place, of course Adora was falling for her. There was no way that the connection they were creating could be taken any other way, because it was the same one she had already built with Adora as the mascot. Fuck, she felt really dumb.

"Adora..." Catra whimpered, curling into herself with the letterman jacket, unsure of what else to do. She closed her eyes and tried to wake up from whatever nightmare she had fallen into, but she knew it was pointless. This was her reality. 

Finally, after what felt like minutes of laying down, but Catra realized was actually hours, she picked up her phone and opened a new text message to Adora. She couldn't complicate this anymore, she had no more chances, no more lives, and she knew that if she didn't get it right, then that was it.

**To Adorka: Hey, can we maybe meet up and talk?**

**Adorka: What do you want to talk about?**

Catra was surprised at the immediate reply, but didn't want to look into it too much, quickly sending her own response.

**Catra: Me being the Wildcat.**

**Adorka: So now you want to talk about it? Not earlier? When I was literally confessing my feelings to you in the equipment room?**

**Catra: Adora, please, can we just talk about this in person? I'll explain everything.**

**Adorka is typing...**

**Adorka is typing...**

**Adorka is typing...**

**Adorka is typing...**

Catra wondered exactly what novel the blonde was drafting, but received a short reply instead.

**Adorka: Pick me up in fifteen.**

She shot up out of bed and went to grab her car keys; she wasn't missing this last chance, she wasn't wasting her last life. 


	13. Last Life (B Side)

The moment Adora left Catra's, she wasn't sure what to do. She got into her car, started driving, and wasn't even sure of a destination. She listened to songs on the radio that she couldn't hear over her thoughts, no matter how high the volume. It felt like her body was carrying her through the stop signs and traffic lights; Adora's mind was in a million different places and out of those millions of thoughts, none were helpful.

She thought of her feelings for Catra, her feelings for the Wildcat, and how it just didn't add up for Catra not to return her feelings, unless she was up to something. It was the only logical explanation Adora could come to, why else would Catra not have revealed herself when she confessed to the mascot?

Adora's knuckles turned white as she clutched the steering wheel, wondering how she could have been so stupid. How could the girl who tormented her for their entire lives, do anything but make a fool out of Adora in front of the whole school? She was grateful she discovered the truth before Catra was able to execute whatever warped plan she likely had.

Her angry musings were interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing, she glanced at it and saw Catra's name. Anger immediately clouded Adora's judgement once more, she rejected the call and pressed harder on the gas. The quarterback wasn't sure where she was driving to so recklessly, her thoughts were compiling into a wave that was crashing into her mind repeatedly.

Eventually, Adora ended up parked outside of a familiar house, she stared at the cars in the driveway, noting that her best friend was indeed home. The quarterback stumbled out of her car and made her way to the front door, thoughts murky and head pounding. She was overwhelmed.

"Adora?" the familiar voice asked as she stared at the ground, snapping her back into reality. Coach Micah stood at the open door, eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her in concern, "Is everything alright?"

"Coach, hey..." Adora said in a half daze. Her mind could barely process what she was saying, all of her thoughts were arguing with each other, and she was just trying to pinpoint at least one amongst the chaos.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" he began to worry, "You know you only need to call me Coach at practice."

"Yeah, sorry Micah," Adora mumbled, "Can I see Glimmer?"

"Of course of course! Please, come in!" he ushered her inside and onto the couch. Adora sat down automatically as Michah headed upstairs to retrieve Glimmer. She felt like she couldn't move, like her mind was outside of her body. Why couldn't she stop thinking about Catra?

"Adora?" Glimmer asked, suddenly beside the blonde on the couch. She had no idea how long her friend had been then.

"Glimmer..." Adora murmured and buried herself into her friend's side. She couldn't even begin to articulate the experience of tumultuous emotions overtaking her. Glimmer held onto the taller girl tightly, she stroked her hair gently as her friend vibrated in her arms.

"I don't know why she would do that, why she would treat me so badly, for so long. Then go around in some cat costume and flirt with me? Why would she do that? _Who does that?_ I just don't get it, and it feels like some kind of huge prank and we still have that assignment-" Adora groaned and urgently shot up straight, tearing herself from Glimmer's embrace.

"Shit, we still have that report on the mascot to do! Wait a minute, how did I see her taking pictures of the Wildcat earlier today?" Adora frowned, her leg was bouncing erratically and her brain felt like a treadmill someone fell off a long time ago.

"I think I have that answer," Glimmer sighed, grabbing Adora's hand in both of her's in an attempt to calm Adora's shaking, "I have a pretty good feeling that it was Bow. He told me that he was translating for your interview, _and_ helping Catra with her photos, I'm assuming that meant wearing the suit for her."

"Ugh," Adora groaned and buried her face into her hands, elbows on her knees, "That makes _soooooooo_ much sense. Mara, I feel like the world's biggest dumbass."

"You did nothing wrong, Adora," a voice came from the entryway to the living room. The pair looked up to see Micah approaching with two cups of steaming tea, "Sorry girls, I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I just wanted to bring you some Chamomile, I know you two like it when you're stressed," he apologized and set the cups on the coffee table in front of the girls, then took a seat in one of the armchairs in the room.

"Thank you, Micah. I uh, I'm sorry you had to hear all that," Adora mumbled and tried to burn a hole in the floor with her eyes. The day was already terrible enough and she now had the pleasure of her football coach knowing the identity of her secret crush.

"No need to be sorry. In fact, I've been wondering who that troublemaker was for a while now. I have to admit, I didn't expect it to be Catra of all people, I mean we always thought she had a bit of a crush on you..." Micah trailed off, stroking his beard.

"I'm sorry, you thought that _Catra_ used to have a crush on me?" Adora snorted, "When we first met, on the first day of Kindergarten, she came up to me on the playground, I said hi, and she pushed me into a red ant hill! Since then, she has made my life a living hell nonstop, and this mascot thing was her final plan to ruin my life before college!"

"Adora, are you familiar with the concept of little boys picking on little girls to get their attention? Express their fondness?" Micah asked while the pair of friends sipped on their tea, nodding at him to continue.

"Think of those schoolyard crushes, and everything you've ever learned about them. All those lessons you learned came from TV and movies, and you know what pretty much _all_ of those relationships in TV and movies are?" Micah raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Straight people?" Glimmer offered, earning a look from Adora, to which she shrugged in response.

"Exactly, Glimmer!" Micah clapped excitedly, "Now, as a lesbian, Adora, imagine if you were young again. You like a girl, and the _only_ way you understand how to express that attraction, is by watching how boys your age treat the girls that they like. Or, by watching television shows to see how those boys treat those girls, but the only examples you have, consist of boys being mean to girls that they like. No one else has shown you how to express your feelings for another girl, and the way girls communicate with boys is unappealing to you, because you're only interested in girls."

"Oftentimes, when we have no example to look to, we begin searching in unhealthy places. It doesn't help that we already tell boys to treat girls badly as a sign of affection, but we see that for a lot of young lesbians, that can be the case. So, under all of those circumstances, how would _you_ treat the girl you liked at that age?"

"I'd probably pick on her..." Adora answered softly, thinking of the years of hair pulling, name calling, shoving from the other girl, and flirty remarks as they grew older, "Well, and excuse me for saying this Coach, I feel pretty fucking stupid," she sighed and leaned back into the couch, finding Glimmer's embrace once more.

"It's okay, Adora. Relationships are complicated matters, regardless of sexuality, but it's definitely a lot harder when you're navigating in the dark, blindly searching for a path that no one has left you. Love is not born from malice, and I'm not condoning any of Catra's behaviors, just trying to shed light onto her dark path," Micah explained.

"To be honest, Angella and I were totally prepared for helping you move on from the teasing with Catra and guide you two towards a beautiful healthy relationship, but we were _not_ prepared for her to be the Wildcat. We definitely didn't rehearse for that," he admitted.

"Rehearse?" Adora asked, looking at Glimmer who seemed just as confused.

"Sorry, it's just that, Angella and I have been practicing this whole 'Catra has actually had a crush on you forever and hasn't known how to express it' speech lined up, basically since you and Glimmer first became friends. I mean, we started hearing about her all the time," he chuckled, "We had the speech ready, just in case we would ever need it, but we never thought she would be the Wildcat..." Micah mused, stroking his beard once again.

" _Daaaaad,_ why do you and mom _always_ do this? Can you guys just go like, one day without planning everything? Including your heart-to-heart talks with my friends!" Glimmer groaned, earning a sheepish smile from her father.

"There's nothing wrong with preparation," he provided sagely, "Plus, it's like getting advice from both me and your mother, at the same time!" he pitched with a cheesy grin. Glimmer rolled her eyes and looked to Adora.

"I mean, it did put a lot in perspective," Adora admitted, earning a groan from Glimmer and 'whoop' from Micah, "But, that still doesn't help the whole lying Wildcat situation."

"Yeah, no, Catra totally sucks," Micah stated bluntly, earning a bewildered look from both girls, "I mean, she distracts my star football player, costs the school a significant amount of money in infractions at away games, behaves _incredibly_ inappropriately at school sanctioned events; not to mention that time she was grinding against the senior class president last year on the Homecoming Float! She faces no consequences for her actions, and I think that she is a horrible example to the entire student body."

"Yes Dad, we know you hate the mascot, but maybe we can focus on your personal vendetta against the foam suit a _little_ bit later," Glimmer aggressively suggested, looking pointedly at Adora.

"Oh, right, right," Micah understood and gave Glimmer an exaggerated wink, "Well, I'm gonna go do some work in my office girls, holler if you need anything! Not that I'll be listening, just the normal amount of parental listening which is only listening for cries of distress o-"

"Thanks Dad, love you! Adora and I are just gonna head to my room," Glimmer cut him off while standing up from the couch and dragged Adora upstairs, leaving their empty tea cups on the coffee table. Normally, Adora offered to pick them up, to which Angella or Micah would wave her off and they would playfully argue with the polite girl. Her kindness was infectious, and as Micah collected the cups he realized just how deeply the Wildcat was affecting Adora.

In Glimmer's room, Adora laid inside of a blanket burrito with her head on Glimmer's warm lap. Her friend stroked her hair gently, as Adora continued to process her entire day. Luckily, her thoughts didn't feel nearly as explosive, and she felt she finally had at least some control over her mind again.

"So what're you gonna do?" Glimmer asked gently, eyes gazing into Adora's with concern.

"I don't know, I really have no clue. Like, I liked her so much, her and the mascot. Maybe I still do like her, but that doesn't change that she lied, fuck she lied so much," Adora sighed.

"Yeah," Glimmer nodded, continuing her gentle hair stroking.

"It just, it really felt like I had someone, finally. Everything with her just feels so right, but now I'm starting to wonder how much of it was real. I wonder if any of it was real," Adora murmured into Glimmer's lap, tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Glimmer assured softly, "No one can take away your feelings, no one can say that they're fake, okay? Everything you experienced was real, regardless of how all of this turns out, that connection was real. It's okay to be sad about that."

"Yeah," Adora mumbled weakly in reply. The two of them remained in their position for hours, Glimmer eventually joining Adora in her blanket burrito, holding her friend as tightly as possible despite how warm it was. She just wanted to take away all of her pain.

Eventually, the sky darkened and they had to emerge from the blanket burrito. Adora hugged Glimmer tightly before leaving her room; she thanked Angella and Micah on her way out for their... unorthodox, but helpful advice. She drove home quickly and anticipated climbing directly into bed.

Adora walked up to her front door, noticing her mom sweeping the porch, "Hey, Razz," the blonde greeted as she opened the door.

"Oh hello, Adora! When it is dark outside is when there is the most magic around, it makes my chores much faster," she informed her adopted daughter matter-of-factly.

"Got it, I'll start doing all my chores at night then," Adora deadpanned.

"That's the spirit, dearie!" Razz gleefully exclaimed, slapping Adora on the back, "I made you a sandwich and put it in the refridge for you, I am glad to see you home safe," the old woman beamed, giving Adora a kiss and pat on the cheek before returning to her sweeping. The blonde was beyond grateful for her adopted mother, and despite her quirks, Adora couldn't ask for a better guardian. Granted, Adora did have to invent curfews for herself and lie to others that it was her mom's, but if Razz's misunderstanding of time was her only fault, that was more than fine for Adora.

"Thank you so much, Razz, I appreciate it, really," Adora thanked and headed inside. She made a beeline for the fridge and sure enough, a neatly wrapped sandwich sat on the top shelf for her. The blonde sat down and slowly ate, trying to focus only on her food, not Catra, not the mascot.

As Adora chewed aggressively in an attempt to not think of Catra, she received a text from the object of her attempted not-thoughts.

**Catra: Hey, can we meet up and maybe talk?**

Adora's fingers immediately forgot her sandwich and sent a reply, knowing the answers to the questions she had were with Catra.

**Adora: What do you want to talk about?**

**Catra: Me being the Wildcat.**

**Adora: So now you want to talk about it? Not earlier? When I was literally confessing my feelings to you in the equipment room?**

Adora couldn't help the bite in her text. She was frustrated that Catra wanted to finally talk about it, after it was far too late.

**Catra: Adora, please, can we just talk about this in person? I'll explain everything.**

**Adora: You have a lot of nerve thinking you can talk to me about this now, instead of having the guts to do it earlier you're**

***delete all***

**Adora: We've been 'talking' in person for a while Catra, I don't know what else you would have to say to me after so many chances**

"No, that sounds stupid..." Adora mumbled.

***delete all***

Adora drafted and typed a few more replies, she knew that she had to talk to Catra, they had to figure it out.

**Adora: Pick me up in fifteen.**

***send***

She locked her phone and took another large bite from her sandwich. She had fifteen minutes until Catra arrived and intended to enjoy her fucking food. 


	14. The Sand and the Sea

Catra broke more than a few traffic laws on her way to Adora's house, but she wanted to waste as little time as possible. She pulled up to the quarterback's home and put her car in park, turning off the lights, but not the engine. The porch light was still on and Catra saw the outline of a person beneath it. Cursing under her breath, she texted Adora to let her know she had arrived, she wasn't trying to piss off Adora's mom.

A tap on her windshield caused Catra to shriek, turning up from her phone, "The fuck?"

Outside of her driver's side window stood a short old woman with a broom in her hand, huge glasses, and a colorful dress on. She had a warm smile on her face and Catra wondered if maybe she was Adora's mom. She rolled her window down hesitantly, "Hello?"

"Hello Dearie! Are you a friend of Mara's?" the woman asked cheerfully.

"Umm, I'm a friend of Adora's," Catra answered skeptically, wondering if this was where Adora's habit of saying 'Mara' came from.

"Yes yes! That is what I said!" the older woman scoffed, "Are you here to speak with her? I know that her heart is quite sad right now," she informed Catra solemnly.

"Yeah," Catra replied softly, "I would really like to try to help that, if I can."

"Hmmmm..." the white haired woman hummed thoughtfully. She eyed Catra and rubbed her chin, then carefully picked up her broom in both hands, and hit Catra in the face with it through her open car window.

" _It was you!_ You hurt my dear Adora's heart! Prepare for the Razz-le Dazz-le!" the old woman exclaimed and went to swing at Catra again. Before she could make contact, an arm reached out and took hold of the broom.

"It's okay Razz, I told her to come over," Adora chuckled, grabbing the broom in her hands. Catra involuntarily blushed at the tall blonde, clad in a flannel and tapered sweats, standing outside of her car. She quickly faced forward to avoid being caught staring.

"She cannot be trusted," Razz stubbornly replied to Adora, crossing her arms, "I do not like people who try to take away your magic."

"I know, I promise that my magic is safe," Adora assured and returned the broom to her mom, pulling her into a hug.

"You keep your heart safe too, it is the most magical thing that you possess," Razz whispered in her ear, shooting a glare at Catra over Adora's shoulder. The brunette was too preoccupied with cleaning the dust and leaves off of her face to notice. Adora nodded and kissed the top of Razz's head.

"I'll be home later tonight, okay?" she asked, feeling bad for taking advantage of her mom's confusion about time, but she considered the situation to be fairly important.

"You be safe dearie!" Razz called over her shoulder as she shuffled back up to the front porch, humming contently. Adora sighed and walked to the passenger side of Catra's car, sliding in and buckling up quickly.

"So, does your mom hit everyone with a broom?" Catra asked lightly, in an attempt to break the tension. She turned the lights on and pulled away from Adora's house, eager to drive away from the terrifying 'dazzler', Razz.

"You know, she really only hits people when they're being assholes," Adora mused.

"Mmmm good one, I deserved that," Catra replied.

"I was _really_ tempted to let her hit you that second time, but honestly, few people deserve the 'Razzle Dazzle'!" Adora quoted with a small chuckle.

"Well, thank you," Catra shot a quick grateful look at her passenger.

"It's just because I wanted to hear what you had to say, and wanted to avoid another assault charge against my mom," Adora teased, Catra wondering for a moment just how dangerous the broom master could be.

"Still, thank you," Catra insisted, causing Adora's smile to vanish.

"Of course," she bluntly responded and offered no other words. The drive was painstakingly quiet, Catra couldn't bring herself to play any songs and had no more anecdotes to break the silence. She drove them out to the same lookout point where they had gone on their 'not-date' with Scorpia and Perfuma. On arrival, Catra turned off the car and stepped out, nodding at Adora to do the same.

The blonde stepped out and watched Catra pull a folded up blanket from the trunk. She laid it on top of the hood and windshield, hopping onto the hood and leaning back. Adora followed suit and sat beside her, with a generous amount of space between them.

"So..." Catra began.

"So..." Adora repeated, "You're the mascot."

"Yeah, I am."

"Have you always been? Since our Freshman Year? When the switch happened?" Adora asked, completely focused on Catra.

"Yeah," Catra nodded softly, unable to look anywhere but straight ahead of her as the water gently lapped at the shoreline. The ocean reached longingly for the sand, but was pushed away each time they finally touched.

Or were the waves the ones retreating instead?

"Earlier, I told you how I felt, why didn't you tell me the truth?"

"I was scared," Catra replied honestly, "You told me that you liked someone else, and I just thought there was no way I could compete."

"So you let me keep wondering?" Adora frowned, "Be honest with me, if I didn't find out, were you ever going to tell me? Were you planning some kind of huge joke in front of the whole school?"

"No! No! I swear, Adora, I would never do something like that to you! I was going to tell you, honestly. Bow even made me promise to reveal myself by Homecoming!" Catra insisted, turning to meet pain filled blue eyes. Ice cut through Catra's sternum at the girl's face and she realized how badly she was fucking up. 

"So Bow was going to make you tell me the truth? You had no desire on your own volition, to tell me?" Adora clarified.

"No, Adora, please, listen to me!" Catra pleaded, grabbing one of the blonde's hands between her own, "I have wanted to talk to you for so long, to get to know you as more than a friend, and the only way I found the courage to do it, was in the mascot uniform. Then, when we started getting to know each other I was really thinking I had a chance..."

"So you were just going to start ignoring me as the Wildcat, to ask me out as yourself? You thought it would be easy for me to forget about my first anonymous high school crush and weird emotional relationship?" Adora snapped and pulled her hand away.

"Well, I mean, kind of... yeah," Catra admitted, "I guess I just assumed that you didn't like the mascot, like that," she mumbled weakly, realizing how idiotic she sounded.

"Wow, you're really fucking stupid, huh?" Adora chuckled. The brunette glared at her, but softened when she saw the sadness in Adora's features, "You realize that I came out Freshman year, right?" Adora asked softly, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her chin on her forearms.

"I mean, I know it was obvious to most people, but it was a really big deal to me. I had a lot of crushes on and off, I asked some girls out that politely rejected me, but it didn't help the embarrassment at all," she sighed, "Girls didn't show much interest in me, outside of wanting to drunkenly make out with me at parties, or brag about how they felt the quarterback's abs." Adora scoffed. Catra quietly listened, she had always assumed that since the blonde hadn't dated anyone, that meant that she also hadn't hooked up with anyone.

"There's been a lot of girls that think it's really fun to flirt with me at parties, get me interested, cry to me about their boyfriends, start trying to kiss me in front of their boyfriends, and then I end up with a drunk guy trying to fight me so I take him and his drunk girlfriend home..." Adora trailed off, earning a curious head tilt from Catra, how often was that a common occurrence for the blonde?.

"Sorry, went off picking flowers instead of staying on the path," Adora apologized in a mumbled voice to herself. Catra couldn't help smiling, she found every part of her endearing, and even in the circumstances, it was impossible not to find the blonde's nonsense sayings charming.

"Just, even though everyone says they're cool with me being a lesbian, it feels like a joke most of the time. Girls think it's fun to get my attention, guys tell me all the time that I'm exactly the same as them," she scoffed, "And the only thing I've ever wanted, is to meet a girl who would want to spend time with me, for me!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"I'm Adora, quarterback of the Bright Moon High football team, lesbian, writer for fun, and I had a huge crush on a giant foam mascot," Adora breathed out, looking back at a still silent Catra, "And I always thought that the person under that suit saw that, and that she wanted to be with me, for me. She never took it off though, and I can't help but feel like maybe she was just another girl, trying to see how much attention she could get from me, and then disappear."

"Adora..." Catra choked out weakly, trying desperately to swallow the lump in her throat.

"Then there's you," Adora sighed and turned her head away from Catra to stare at the ocean, "You've been torturing me since Kindergarten."

"I'm so sorry I-"

"It's okay, Catra," Adora flashed her a small reassuring smile, "You've been forgiven for that since the day we started hanging out," she took a deep breath, "I was talking to someone and they kinda laid things out for me, but the way you treated me, it's because you've had a crush on me for a while, huh?"

"Yeah," Catra admitted with red cheeks, "The um, the first day we met, I knew. I saw you across the playground, and I just remember this feeling overcoming me, I wasn't sure what to do. So, I did the first thing I could to get your attention, and I pushed you into that ant-hill," she explained.

"Whatever that feeling was, it just grew and grew and grew. I couldn't figure it out until we got older, and when I was around eleven years old or something, I realized that it was a crush. After I spent so long being mean to you though, I figured you would never like me back."

"So you...kept being mean?" Adora clarified.

"I still wanted your attention," Catra smiled sheepishly at Adora with cheeks still burning. The blonde returned the smile, unable to fight the warmth that spread through her chest at the confession.

"You suck," Adora laughed and Catra joined her.

"Yeah, I do," she agreed and their laughter picked up. Soon, their hysterics echoed around the empty air, all the way to the gentle waves below them. Eventually, the laughter died into giggles, which devolved into watery eyes and sniffles. Automatically, the pair found one another, Catra slotted into Adora's arms as they started to cry. Emotions that had built up for years danced between the pair, orchestrated by the parts of their hearts that had been hidden for so long.

"We're a mess," Adora choked as she tightly held onto the smaller woman. The embrace was full of warmth only Adora could bring, and the urgency reminded Catra that it could very well be her last time experiencing that fire.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Catra mumbled into her shoulder, hoping that if she stayed glued to Adora, the blonde would hold her forever.

"As you should be," Adora sighed and wiped some tears, "I wish it didn't have to be like this."

"It doesn't have to!" Catra pleaded as she lifted her head and looked into Adora's eyes, arms still around each other, "You know now, you know everything, Adora. We can be together, I mean we both like each other so there's no reason for us not be happy." 

"Catra," Adora whispered softly, gently brushing Catra's hair from her face, "Please, believe me when I say, that is something that I want more than anything. I want you so badly that it takes every fiber of my being not to grab your stupid face, and kiss it right now," she explained and the mascot felt her entire body heat up.

"But Catra, you lied to me. You made Bow lie to me and I imagine Scorpia as well?" Adora asked and Catra weakly nodded, "Yeah, you made my friends lie to me, and then you went and made me fall for you, as yourself, which was _really_ confusing because I also liked you as a giant wildcat! Look, Catra, I have never felt this way about someone before, but all of this masquerade stuff has really confused my brain and my heart and uh...my everything."

"Are you saying that you don't want to be with me?" Catra frowned, "I didn't mean to hurt you, that's never what I wanted. Adora, I am so sorry."

"I know, but that doesn't change that it happened, and I think we both have some growing to do. I'm not saying I don't want you, I'm saying that I need time, because who I am right now and who you are right now, are two people who would only hurt each other by being together," the blonde explained with tears in her eyes. Catra leaned forward and pressed her forehead against the blonde's.

"I understand, Adora. I know that I hurt you and I need to win your trust back. Just know that I'm not going to give up on you. I mean, I've been waiting for you forever and kept dancing for three years in a giant cat suit for you," she joked softly which earned a watery laugh from Adora, "I'm going to prove myself for you, I'm going to be good enough. I'll make this up to you Adora, I promise."

"I wouldn't expect anything else, Wildcat. I can't make _you_ any promises though, I hope you know that," Adora mumbled and Catra nodded gently against her, "My heart is hurting, and I don't know how long I'll need to take care of it, but I know you're stubborn, and I really hope my heart can be ready for you one day."

"Me too, I hope I get that chance to prove it to you," Catra whispered.

The blonde gave her one last squeeze and started to pull away, "We better head back."

Catra tugged on her body and refused to let the blonde move away, "Wait."

"What is it?"

"Please, can we stay like this for a minute, and just pretend?" Catra begged and looked up into the quarterback's eyes pleadingly. Adora looked between oceans and amber to find nothing but hope shining through. Everything was confusing and it all stemmed from the girl in front of her. At the same time, all she wanted was to hold the dumbass mascot and never let her go.

"Of course," Adora replied and adjusted to put her arm back around Catra. The brunette immediately curled into her, and they looked out at the ocean. Everything had changed, but for just a moment, they could pretend it hadn't. Below them, the waves desperately kissed the shore in fleeting, and it remained unclear still; whether the ocean pulled away from the shore, or the shore pushed away the ocean.

"Thanks, Adora."


	15. Catra's Shit Ass Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mad props to @gaizotak for beta reading!

Catra hated running, she could dance for hours non stop, but running?  _ Absolutely fucking not.  _

“So is this...my punishment…?” Catra wheezed out between breaths, she lost count of how many laps had passed. 

“Oh yeah, hundred percent. And trust me, this is  _ nothing _ compared to whatever you’re gonna get from Glimmer,” Bow advised her as he kept pace with ease. He arrived at Catra’s home before sunrise that morning, pulled her out of bed, and demanded she be ready in ten minutes. As soon as they reached the school, Bow told her to start running and that he would tell her when to stop. 

“I don’t know why she had to tell Sparkles anyway,” Catra grumbled, slowing to a walk because her legs couldn’t take it anymore and Bow was clearly trying to kill her.

“Don’t even go there, Catra,” Bow warned and began walking as well, “You lied to a lot of people and now you have to own up to that.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Catra sighed, “I know that I messed up, but Adora and I talked about it. Everything is going to be okay...eventually. It’s just gonna take time.” 

“Catra, it’s not that simple. Adora has a lot of emotions to work through, and to be honest, she’s too kind and giving sometimes.” 

“What do you mean?” she frowned. 

“I mean that Adora has been really hurt, and she cares about you so she doesn’t want to make you feel bad. But, that doesn’t mean that things are okay between you two,  _ at all _ . So when she untangles all those feelings, she might realize that the hurt was too much and she might want to keep her distance,” Bow explained. 

“Oh…” Catra responded. Her shoulders sagged as she felt the hope start to drain from her heart. Adora told her she couldn’t promise anything, but Catra didn’t realize that Adora could be even more hurt than she was letting on. She figured Adora would at least want to be her friend when all was said and done.

“That’s not for sure!” Bow quickly spoke to avoid whatever spiral Catra was inevitably headed towards, “I’m just saying that you have to give it time, but you also have to realize that you made a mistake.” 

“I know that!” Catra snapped at him quickly, “Sorry, I just, I want to fix it. I realize that I screwed up, big time, and I just want to make it better.” 

“I know you do,” Bow halted, Catra following suit. He pulled her into a sweaty hug, but she didn’t mind in that particular moment. Everything that was collapsing around her was being held together in the smelliest embrace she had ever endured. 

“Do you hate me now?” Catra asked softly, pulling away from her perspiring companion. 

“You know I could never hate you,” Bow smiled reassuringly, “I’m just… disappointed, is all. Oh, wow, I  _ totally _ just sounded like my dads, anyway,” he shook his head, “Let’s go get showered up, okay?” 

“Yeah, okay,” Catra smiled gratefully at her taller friend, and they headed off to their respective locker room showers. Standing under the spray, Catra tried to create a plan to save her future with Adora. Everything that had happened so far was her own fault, and unfortunately, her idea reserves were running dry. 

“Ugh, fuck, I really am stupid,” the dancer groaned and turned her face towards the shower head. Water pelted her directly as she held her breath, the sound of the violent drops deafening. No idea how to change things, no one to help her, and still an entire stupid cat suit to hit the splits in. 

Finally, she couldn’t hold her breath any longer and slammed the shower handle to the “off” position. In her frustration, Catra swiped her towel off the hanger and attempted to leave the stall, but due to the wet floor, she slipped and smacked the side of her face on the shower handle.

“Fuck me!” Catra growled and held her left eye, she was definitely going to be left with a mark from that insidious shower handle, “Mother- _ fucker! _ School hasn’t even started!” she groaned. 

“Who is using profanity, in  _ my _ locker room, at this hour?!” a voice demand from the other end of the room. Catra hissed and moved to quickly wrap a towel around herself, straightening up carefully. Seconds later, the tall intimidating figure of the volleyball coach appeared. Coach Angella noticed her and immediately turned around, but began speaking. 

“Catra. Please get dressed and meet me in my office, quickly,” the coach snapped and promptly walked towards the office at the other end of the locker room, each step echoing with authority. 

“Can this day get  _ any  _ worse?” Catra sighed and quickly changed into her clothes for the school day. Clearly she wouldn’t have time to do her hair, so a ponytail was the only solution. She slipped into her shredded black shorts that she usually got dress coded for, but didn’t have time to grab anything else with Bow’s rude awakening that morning. She pulled on her black sports bra followed by one of her many maroon Horde t-shirts, then grabbed her bag and shuffled to the coach’s office in dismay. 

Angella was going through paperwork when Catra entered, her eyes flitted to Catra’s momentarily, then to the empty seat. An unspoken request to sit, well a demand. The brunette quickly slunk into the chair on the other end of the woman’s desk, nervously wringing her hands together. 

“So, do you want to explain why you were cursing in the showers before students are even on campus, yet?” the coach asked, finally turning up from her papers to the senior. Catra froze in her seat at the penetrating gaze, trying to swallow the lump that suddenly manifested in her throat. 

“I was uh… running on the track,” she sputtered out, palms breaking into a cold sweat despite the fact that she was telling the truth. 

“I don’t recall you asking for permission to use the track this morning.” 

“Oh, well I’m a-” Catra was going to say cheerleader, but realized she couldn’t say that, another disadvantage to being an anonymous mascot. Coach Angella looked at her expectantly, so Catra finished her sentence lamely, “Cardio enthusiast?” she pitched. The coach’s face remained stoic and she sank lower in the chair. 

“I’m in trouble, huh?” 

“Very astute. What’s your final period today?” 

“TA for photo…” she admitted. Catra had two classes with Ms. Spinnerella, Advanced Photo, as well as her teacher’s assistant in Beginner Photo at the end of the day. The dancer was embarrassed to admit she had a favorite teacher though. 

“Well, I’m sure that Miss Spinnerella will have no qualms over me borrowing you for last period today,” Coach Angella stated, earning a quizzical look from Catra. 

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll make the necessary arrangements, but you are to report to the gym for your final period today instead of photo. You will be my assistant for the afternoon, unless you would prefer detention?” 

“TA-ing for you for the afternoon sounds much better than detention ma’am, thank you,” she quickly agreed. 

“Don’t thank me yet, Catra, I’ll see you in a few hours. Now, get out of my locker room,” the coach’s stern voice instructed Catra. With some clattering, Catra quickly scrambled out of the chair and towards the office door, but was stopped once more. 

“Oh, Catra? One more thing.” 

“Yes?” the dancer winced, slowly turning back around to see the woman was already filling out her papers once again. 

“Those shorts are in complete violation of the dress code, so you can stay after school with me for another twenty minutes of detention. Also, you might want to put some ice on your eye.” 

“Yes, Coach,” Catra held back her groan as she walked out of the woman’s office.  _ Now,  _ her day couldn’t get any worse. She left the locker rooms without bothering to look or wait for Bow, she wasn’t in the mood for him to get all maternal. Spotting her destination, Catra made a beeline for the vending machines. She deposited her money and hit a random can of soda, as soon as it fell out she immediately pressed it to her injured eye. 

Catra settled at an outside table in the courtyard, the school was still empty except for students starting to trickle in for extra curricular activities or finishing projects last minute. She tried to calm down and hopefully prevent the impending black eye. Finally, she felt like she had a moment of peace as her body began to relax at the table. Everything was going to be okay, it was just a rough morning, but the rest of her day would be better. 

* _ plop _ *

Catra felt something land on her shoulder and looked over to see a fresh splattering of bird poop right on top of her fresh shirt. The brunette did not immediately react, instead just stared in disbelief, then calmly placed the soda can into her bag and stood up from the table. She couldn’t even freak out about it because it seemed too unbelievable with how her day was already going. 

As soon as she arrived in the bathrooms she peeled her shirt off carefully to rinse it in the sink. Since no one was at the school yet she wasn’t worried about being walked in on. She turned the sink on and started working on rinsing off the bird poop. Once she rinsed off a majority of it, she grabbed some paper towels and put some of the cheap school hand soap on them. Catra attempted to blot the rest of the stain and allowed the soap to soak in for a moment.

She groaned and pulled her phone out of her back pocket to scroll mindlessly for a few minutes. In the midst of her perusing of cat videos and pictures, she heard a throat clear behind her. With a shriek, Catra jumped and turned around to the new presence, she hadn’t even heard anyone come in. 

“Catra?” Adora asked, standing in the entryway to the restroom, face bewildered and bright red with her backpack hanging loosely off one shoulder. 

“Hey! Adora!” Catra squeaked out then realized her state of dress, “I uh, bird poop, this morning, my shirt…” she lamely explained and crossed her arms over herself. Usually she wouldn’t care about someone seeing her in a sports bra, but she was standing in front of the girl she had completely blew it with. 

“Did the bird also peck you in the eye?,” Adora asked, noticing the painful red mark. 

“I slipped in the showers this morning before school.” 

“Oh. Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but I should probably go…” Adora trailed off and began backing out of the bathroom. Her face was still bright red due to the unexpected site of Catra’s shirtless form. 

“No wait, it’s fine! I’m almost done!” she insisted, turning the faucet back on to finish rinsing her shirt. 

“It’s okay, really! Don’t worry I’ll jus-” Adora was cut off by stumbling backwards and smacking her head into the wall. The image of Catra in a sports bra was unfortunately just enough of a distraction for Adora’s already overstimulated brain that she lost coordination.

“Are you okay?” the other girl asked, immediately at Adora’s side to check for injuries, “Shit, I hope you don’t have a concussion, I am  _ so _ sorry.”

“Um, Catra?” the blonde tried to interrupt her fretting, but Catra was clearly too concerned about Adora’s head. 

“We should probably go get you some ice and I coul-”

“Catra!” Adora sternly cut her off. 

“Huh?” the brunette froze, hand still on the back of Adora’s head. 

“You’re uh…” she gestured vaguely towards Catra’s torso, head turned away from the other girl with her face burning. 

“Oh shit! Fuck, I’m  _ so _ sorry, again,” she winced and jumped back from Adora, going to gather her shirt from the sink. Catra yanked the shirt on ungracefully, navigating her arm through the wet sleeve. Adora rubbed her head and winced when she grazed over the bump, but she had taken much worse in football. 

“It’s fine, really, I’m just gonna go to the other bathroom,” Adora insisted. 

“No, really, I’m leaving!” Catra grabbed her bag and hurried past the quarterback, “Sorry again, have a good day, Adora!” she called over her shoulder as she rushed out of the restrooms. 

As far as things going wrong in a short amount of time, Catra was positive that morning was a new record. At that point she couldn’t even imagine what else the day had in store for her, and warily walked to Photography, her left eye throbbing, and shoulder completely wet. 

The rest of the day went, not good. 

In her Photography class one of her classmates bumped her in the darkroom and completely messed up the photos she was developing so she lost a significant amount of progress. In her Psych class she was unable to turn in her assignment because she left her notebook on her desk that morning. At lunch time she hid inside of her car to eat and listen to music without being disturbed. It felt like the only peaceful moment Catra had the entire day. 

By the time final period rolled around, her eye was still killing her and a headache was quickly forming. She begrudgingly dragged her sore body towards the gym, all of the running with Bow that morning turned her legs into lead. When she entered she saw Angella standing in the gym with a clipboard and assumed the rest of the students were changing. 

“Oh, Catra you’re here, excellent,” Angella greeted her as Catra made her way over to the coach. 

“Yup, here for my double punishment,” she shrugged and rubbed her neck. The tall pink haired woman gave a sympathetic look to the student, she did look awful. The bruise on Catra’s eye was only getting worse, and it would clearly be a black eye by the next day. Her knees were quivering as if she was on the verge of collapsing, and there was a faint stain on her shoulder. 

“Unfortunately that’s what happens when you break the rules, now let me show you what you’ll be assisting with this afternoon,” Coach Angella gestured for Catra to follow as she took her to an area where it seemed like almost every piece of sporting equipment the school owned was piled up. 

“We need to do some light cleaning and organizing, let me know if anything is damaged. You can continue cleaning through the bell, that way we roll right into your detention,” Angella instructed while Catra continued to eye the imposing pile, “Questions?” 

“Uhh, I guess not?” 

“Well let me know if you do, and please be aware of your surroundings. We’re playing dodgeball today as a class vote, so do keep your wits about you,” the coach advised. 

“Got it,” Catra nodded and groaned internally as she turned to pick up the rag and cleaning supplies Angella had set out for her. She immediately got to work wiping down grimy equipment and organizing equipment by sport. Sounds of students talking, whistle blows, and balls being thrown resonated throughout the gym, but Catra ignored it with determination to get through the end of the day. 

That idea was cut short by the feeling of a rubber ball bouncing off of Catra’s head. It wasn’t a hard hit, but surprised Catra nonetheless. She snatched the red ball up with a growl and wheeled around to see none other than Glimmer with a shit-eating grin.

“ _ Oops, my bad _ ,” Glimmer sang, the students snickering beside her clearly told a different story. Catra’s gut response was to chuck the ball at the pink haired girl’s stupid face, but she also knew that might be counter productive to getting back on Adora’s good side.

“It’s fine, I’ll pay better attention,” she forced out and used every ounce of control to pass the ball back to Glimmer gently. The pinkette seemed to deflate for a minute at Catra not taking the bait, but quickly turned back to the dodgeball match. 

The rest of P.E. consisted of that back and forth, Glimmer ‘accidentally’ hitting Catra with the ball, and Catra losing another piece of her soul passing it back to her. Soon, the throws became more aggressive, and finally after a particularly nasty hit, she had enough. With fury, Catra snagged up the stray ball and turned to face Glimmer, arm prepared to launch. That was when Glimmer shot a dodgeball bullet right into Catra’s stomach. 

Sheer force and anger backed Glimmer’s throw, knocking Catra flat on the ground and the breath out of her body. As soon as the ball made contact, Glimmer knew she may have gone too far. Everyone in the gym paused to look at the scene, including Coach Angella. 

“ _ Glimmer!”  _

“I’m in trouble,” Glimmer winced, all the other students scattering as she hesitantly approached her mother. 

“Catra, are you okay?” Angella asked with concern. She rushed right over as soon as Catra hit the ground, pulling the senior off the ground. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Catra winced, trying to catch her breath. 

“Go take a seat and have some water,” the coach instructed, directing Catra to the water fountains. She slowly walked off to the fountains while Angella faced Glimmer with narrowed eyes.

“As for you, young lady, I am utterly disappointed. I do not know  _ what _ has gotten into you, but this is unacceptable behavior. You have been raised far better than this,” Angella expressed. 

“But  _ mom!  _ She broke Adora’s heart!” Glimmer protested in a lowered voice. 

“That is no excuse to resort to such petty violence,  _ especially _ when someone is already vulnerable. If you are going to confront someone, you never do it from behind, that is underhanded.” 

“Yes, mom,” Glimmer sighed, “I’m sorry.” 

“Oh yes, indeed you are. You are also going to apologize to Catra when she returns, and you now get to spend detention helping her clean.” 

“But m-” 

“No buts! Now, go finish the class and if you hit her with another dodgeball you will be grounded for a week.” 

“Okay,” Glimmer grumbled and hustled to the other side of the gym, far away from her mother and Catra. 

At the water fountains, Catra took deep breaths between each drink, wondering what Adora had to say to Glimmer to make her hate her that much. She wasn’t sure if she had anything else to give, the day had already taken so much from her. With reluctance, Catra started shuffling back to the equipment pile and the bell for the end of the day rang. 

Thoughts of throwing herself on the floor and weeping in joy crossed her mind briefly, but she still had detention to make it through. Still, she couldn’t fight the relieved smile on her face over the fact that she was a detention away from the end of the day from hell. Catra’s relief was short-lived when she saw Glimmer organizing the equipment pile. 

“Uhhh, what’re you doing?” Catra asked, perplexed. 

“Same as you, detention,” Glimmer answered curtly. 

“Oh, okay.” 

Catra snagged her towel and started cleaning the farthest distance from Glimmer that she possibly could. The pair cleaned in excruciatingly tense silence, each glance at the clock showed little progression in time. Aggressive squeaking from the cleaning products touching metal were the only sounds that could be heard, until Glimmer broke the silence. 

“You have a lot of fucking nerve.” 

“I know,” Catra sighed, “It was never my intention for things to get this far.”

“What  _ was  _ your intention? Crush on Adora for years secretly, then dress up and play pretend to flirt with her? I just really don’t know what you were thinking, every time I try to make sense of it, I don’t get it.” 

“I don’t know either!” Catra groaned, earning a bewildered look from Glimmer, “Sorry, it’s just been the question of the hour for me. Look, I understand that what I did was wrong, but it was never my intention. I was going to tell her on my own, but I obviously messed that up.” 

“Obviously,” Glimmer scoffed, tossing her towel on the ground. She walked up to Catra and poked her in the chest, “I watched my best friend be torn up in ways I have seen very rarely, Catra. I don’t know if you realize just how much Adora cared about you, and about the other you, but you’re really fucking stupid. She was  _ so  _ clearly into you, so I don’t know how you can stand here and pretend like you didn’t notice!” 

“I don’t have that kind of confidence!” Catra shouted in Glimmer’s face, causing the shorter girl to reel back, “Sorry.” Catra quickly apologized. 

“I’ve liked Adora for as long as I can remember, it’s always been her. There’s been no other crushes, no one who I can even look twice at, it’s just been Adora. So after all these years of being rejected by her, and never being with anyone else...yeah it was kinda hard to be confident in her liking me.” 

“Wait, you’ve never been with  _ anyone _ else? No crushes?” Catra shook her head, “Dates?” another head shake, “Have you ever even kissed anyone?” Glimmer gasped. 

“Wha- That’s none of your business!” Catra snapped, cheeks red, “I just… I always wanted my first kiss to be Adora,” she grumbled and kicked the floor.

“That’s... _ actually _ kind of sweet,” Glimmer admitted, “But this does not mean I’m excusing any of your actions. I still don’t think you’re good enough for Adora.” 

“And I want to change that!” Catra insisted. 

“I don’t think you can,” Glimmer informed her point-blank, freezing Catra in place. 

“Why?” she asked softly. 

“You’ve been hiding behind masks for years, Catra. Who said you stopped just because Adora found out?” Glimmer replied and turned her back to the other girl, effectively ending the conversation. 

Detention wrapped up uneventfully, each student lost in their thoughts until Angella informed them that their time was up. They put away the remaining equipment they didn’t get around to, and Glimmer addressed Catra one more time. 

“Also, I’m sorry for throwing so many dodgeballs at you, and for that really cheap shot,” Glimmer apologized weakly and Catra shook her head to stop the girl from saying anything else. 

“Don’t worry, I deserved it, just don’t mention it,” she waved off the other girl and turned to leave the gym. Catra just wanted to go home and she figured it was a forced apology anyway, she didn’t need any pity,  _ especially  _ not from Adora’s outspoken best friend. She heard Glimmer mumble something incoherent, but she was too preoccupied with the thought of a long shower she could  _ not  _ bust her eye in, to listen closely. 

Catra rushed to her car hastily and booked it home. She followed the speed limit signs with diligence, there was no way she was going to push her luck any further on such a cursed day. When she entered her home, Scorpia immediately picked up on her roommate’s vibes and offered to make dinner. After another shower, the senior ate a delicious soup that Scorpia had made and couldn’t find a way to properly thank the older woman. It often felt like that with Scorpia, like Catra was unsure of how to properly express her gratitude. 

She wasn’t able to share any of her awful highlights of the day, instead excusing herself to her room to mope. As soon as Catra flopped onto her mattress, she was affronted with the sight of Adora’s letterman jacket. After a moment of contemplation, she decided to text the quarterback and not add any insult to injury. 

**Hey, sorry to bother you, I still wanna give you space and everything, I just wanted to know how you want me to return your letterman jacket. I can pass it along to Bow and he can give it to you. Like I said, I don’t wanna pressure you, sorry about earlier too, just let me know.** ****

Catra hit send without thinking too hard about the message. She started performing her nighttime rituals when her phone buzzed with a text. Catra changed into a baggy t-shirt and a pair of checkered boxers she loved to sleep in before checking her messages. 

**Adora: Why don’t you hold on to it for the time being, and I’ll let you know if I want it back or not, sound good?**

**Catra: Sounds perfect. Thanks, Adora.**

**Adora: Besides, you still haven’t gotten to wear it yet, and I hope one day you might be able to.**

**Catra: I’m hoping too.**

**Catra: Have a good night.**

**Adora: You too, Catra.**

The mascot laid in her bed and held her phone close to her chest; maybe it wasn’t the worst day she had ever had after all. 

  
  


  
  
  



End file.
